Alisa and the stuff Alisa does

6 months later....

2011-09-27T13:36:00.004-04:00

I'm so sorry. I never have time to blog anymore. I could make time, but..... no.... I couldn't. Working at only Fossil has made it a lot harder to be on the internet all day. I have no time to online window shop or constantly update myself on the weather happenings.

Here are the important things that have happened:

1. the Soho pop-up shop closed, thank God. It became the bane of my existence.
2. I went back to 5th Avenue. Yay!
3. I worked on 2 more productions of The Water Dream, one at the Peter J Sharp Theatre in midtown, the other at Shakespeare and Company in Massachusetts.
4. I performed in the NYC premiere of Ginna's one woman show, The 12 Dates of Christmas.
5. I'm currently about to open a sketch comedy show called Guilt and Fear. This weekend only!
6. This makes 5 shows this year (6 soon, because there's one more reading of TWD coming up in December) and I haven't been to an audition all year. I'm some kind of lazy actor success story.
7. We went home to Ohio for a few days and it was wonderful.
8. We went to Staunton for Johnston and Lindsey's wedding and it, too, was wonderful.
9. John Harrell is my favorite actor ever. Martha Jane said I looked like a boy (even though I was wearing a pink polka dot dress). Eliot has become even awesomer. Jenny is the best dress maker in the universe and she is also SO PRETTY.
10. It's almost my birthday month. SPOOOOOOOKY TIMES!!!!!!

If I can figure out a way to blog from my phone, maybe I'll be able to do it more often. Or ever. If not, please follow me on twitter at twitter.com/slceostyle for more timely information.

nothin' to do

2011-04-10T15:45:00.002-04:00

Today I was waiting on the platform of the 1 train and this guy walked up to me. I HATE it when people I don't know walk up to me while I'm on the train platform because I'm always afraid they're maniacs who are going to push me onto the tracks. This guy said something about 79th St and when I slowly (and hesitantly) looked in his direction, he wasn't even looking at me. Sometimes it takes me a minute to understand what people ACTUALLY said, and when I finally realized he was asking if the train went to 79th st, I was totally startled. He kept apologizing for starling me, but I wouldn't have been startled at all if he would have said something like, "Excuse me, do you know if this train goes to 79th st?" I didn't even know he was talking to me at first. He said something about how he knew New Yorkers didn't like to be talked to but I "looked like I knew what i was doing." Which I do. HOWEVER... come on. New Yorkers don't mind being talked to by SANE PEOPLE, it's just that most people who try to talk to you on the platform or street are definitely not sane people. They're either homeless, on drugs, crazy ramblers, or trying to sell you something. None of those things are things I want to be involved with. So, you just tend to ignore everyone. You have no choice.

But most people here are probably HAPPY to give you directions. I know I am. This place is confusing as hell, but the more people who know where they're going, the LESS people standing around in the middle of the street, blocking foot traffic.

So, I got promoted at Fossil and am finally able to go down to ONE FULLTIME JOB!!!!! Amazing!!!! I'm still doing Rockababy, but that's just one day a week. I wouldn't know what to do with 2 days off every week. Plus, you know, I really love doing Rockababy, and it's not hard or stressful, so it's not like REAL work. I'm just so happy that I am going to be able to leave work and not have to go to another job. When I'm done working, I'll be TOTALLY done working for the day. My days will go from 10 hours of work (with an hour travel each way and an hour break between, total 13 hours) to 8 hours of work, hour lunch (hour travel each way, total 11 hours) AND I'll be making more money. I get 2 hours of each day back.... and that's 10 hours a week. I still have 2 days left at the box office but then I'm gonna be hooommmmmeeeee freeeeeeeee! (I'm also happy to be working with Fossil, because I love them and I love working there.)

My sister is coming to town this week. It's going to be fun. We're going to visit Harry Potter at the Discovery Times Square Museum. (I think we are... I am hoping we can get in for free.) She is taking the TRAIN. It's going to take forever. Hopefully she's not comatose by the time she arrives. She wants to go see Obscura because she's crazy. Other than that.... I don't know what there is to do. I'll probably just take her to Astoria park, hahahaha.

I may or may not be getting sick. I hope it's may not. I am subbing 4 Rockababy classes this week AND Jen is coming here.... I do not want to be sick. Maybe it's some kind of new allergy. Or maybe lack of sleep (just last night... the night before I was ASLEEP at 11pm). Just hopefully not sick.

My girl Haley killed it on American Idol again. Man, i hope she wins. Oh yeah, also, Chris's friend, Tony Pulizzi, who played guitar at our wedding, is the lead guitarist on the show this year. They went to high school together.... Tony is one of Chris's best friends. We were watching the results show the other night and Chris just keeps saying, "That's Tony. THAT'S TONY!!!" I thought he meant on the phone or something. I was thinking, "so answer it, weirdo." Then he said Tony was on the TV and I understood. And frankly, it's pathetic that I didn't recognize him before. I have a million pictures of him from the wedding and half the time he's the ONLY one on the stage with the performers. I was even wondering what it must be like to be the lead guitarist on AI when little Haley sang to him the other night. AND, the Paul guy gave him a shout out MID-PERFORMANCE ("Tony on the gee-tar!") and the camera went right to him.... and I didn't notice. Well, to my credit, I wasn't expecting him to be there. I never recognize people out of context, anyway. It's pretty awesome, though. Chris is THRILLED by the whole thing. He called him immediately. Now I feel like I should look for Tony all over the place on TV.

it's hard to post in March

2011-03-31T18:05:00.005-04:00

The weather has been stupid and it's only going to be more stupid the next couple of days. It's going to be a rain/snow mix tonight. All I can do is hope that once this weather system passes, the winter is DONE. We are below normal for this time of year and winter needs to go away and pick up sticks. Serious spring abandonment.

In other news, some of the American Idol contestants are really good. I really love Haley Reinhart. She is like everything I want in a contestant on American Idol. I hope she wins. She would be the most fun winner of the show ever. In other reality TV news, Richard Blais DID win Top Chef last night and we ("we" being everyone in the world) were thrilled. If he wouldn't have won it would have sucked. Also, in REGULAR TV news, Michael's engagement to Holly on the Office was one of the best TV engagements ever! Good job. I laughed and cried.

See what I have been reduced to, winter???? I want to go outsssssiiiiiidddddddeeee!!

Chris turned 40 on Sunday. We had a good day which involved lots of food and good times with Ginna and Sheffield at the Bare Burger of Astoria. I got him a pair of shoes, new jeans, a bag, a groupon for a massage, tickets to a Mets game, new sunglasses and a keychain! I went all out, huh? That's probably more gifts than I've ever gotten him, combined. (Thanks to the extra paycheck in March for making this possible.) He was happy. If you can't go all out on someone's 40th birthday, when can you?

We did have a day of almost 80 degrees on March 18th. The 17th was really nice, too. I was doing laundry that day and the temperature kept going up.... by the time I was going to pick up my clothes I realized it was totally unnecessary for me to wear a jacket or sleeves at all. I wish it would have stayed that temperature... forever.

I painted my fingernails light purple because it reminded me of the color I used to wear in high school and because it's the only thing I can control about spring. I just can't wait to go by the park and suddenly there will be leaves everywhere. It's going to be the best day!

I feel like I have no clothes to wear but it's obviously not true. I have just exhausted my winter wardrobe. I am both sick of wearing the clothes and have worn them much more than normal because I must just own less winter clothes (strangely... since I'm from the north. I guess it's wishful thinking). Sigh.

Retail is so weird. We are starting to get summer products and SPRING hasn't even arrived for most of the country, yet. It's making my completely obvious and frustrating Spring Fever even worse.

I mean, what if spring NEVER COMES???? What if it's cold, windy and rainy and then suddenly it's 90 degrees and humid until it's cold, windy and rainy again??? What if there is no longer a spring or fall?? What if that is the new "normal" (thanks to Climate Change). WHAT IF IT IS???? You can't prove that it's NOT...

I am going insane. I miss spring so much.

i always need a snack

2011-03-06T14:52:00.002-05:00

Whoops. I forgot to update for a while. I knew I needed to I just... didn't.

Well, in the past month I've become somewhat obsessed with hummos. I can't stop eating it. I guess there are worse things I could be eating all the time.... like ghosts. I've been eating it mainly with carrots (but sometimes with pita chips) but then there are these times... like right now... when I just want to stick my whole hand in and scoop it out. Mmmmmm.... weird, grainy mush....

Groupon's cat has been particularly funny the last couple days. One of my favorite quotes was from the guide to swimming which ended with the tip:

•Never swim alone, and always remember—whether you're being safe or being sorry, the most important thing you can do is just be.

I love that cat. So funny. Humor has really changed from hitting people in the face with a pie to the groupon cat. Everything is absurd. Well, everything *I* like, anyway. I did not like James Franco, though. I think I knew what the Oscar people were trying to do because I INVENTED that quirky duo. Or maybe I stole it from Gracie Allen. But either way, it would have worked better with someone else. Like Andy Samburg. Or the character of Ryan from the Office. OR BENJAMIN LINUS FROM LOST!!!!!!! James Franco just... sucks. He needs to go away forever.

The Soho store is getting a little busier. Yesterday it was beautiful weather and a lot of people came in... today no one came in until 12:30pm and I was leaving at 1pm. I'm now splitting my time between the 5th Avenue and Soho stores. It's gonna be better this way. I'll get the same amount of hours that I need and be able to do the reports I used to do. So, I'm happy.

My friend Jenny from high school was in town this weekend to see Bon Jovi with some friends and it was soooo good to see her. Everyone who knows Jenny loves her because she is the best. I took her to VYNL (because every time I visited NYC someone took me there) and we had a grand old time. I hope they didn't get lost on their adventures. New York can be scary.

Yes, it's true. New York CAN be scary. And, for the most part, I hate all teenagers. HOWEVER, today an older gentlewoman fell up the staircase next to me in the Times Square station and literally every teenager and young man around ran to help her. She was fine... it was just slippery out... but it was SO NICE to see all those boys stop to help her. Good job, teenagers.

I got this unsweetened White tea with mint at the store and it's kind of gross. I mean, it tastes like tea flavored toothpaste. I thought it would be better because green tea with mint is awesome. White tea, you lose.

Have you heard about these crazy people who think the world is going to end on May 21st? It makes me nervous that there's going to be some kind of mass suicide or that, on May 22nd when the world is (knock on wood) still here, they're gonna start attacking people. I mean, they are CRAZY. I don't understand why people believe the guy who says that's judgement day. If I remember ANYTHING from the Bible, it's that no one will be able to predict when Jesus is supposed to return. But, I guess people will believe anything. Plus, I think those radio and TV stations with extremely conservative, 24/7 Bible "preaching" are brainwashing people for real. There is no other explanation than brainwashing for their level of crazy.

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot. The day after I last updated Radiohead announced they had a new album out and that it would be available the following Saturday. I, of course, lost my mind, and pre-ordered it asap. And then... on Friday morning... they announced it was available THEN! A day early! I lost my mind again. Radiohead kills me every time! Some people are speculating that it could be a secret double album (second part to be released later) and I hope that it is just because it's such a clever IDEA. I love them forever.

Chris has a birthday coming up. It's a big one. I am feeling pressure (not from him, from myself) to make it good because when I asked him what he wanted he said, "To age backwards."

stabbarinos

2011-02-13T15:12:00.003-05:00

Today I got off the train at 72nd St and I smelled Spring. You know what I'm talking about. There is nothing else that smells like the first couple weeks of Spring and I can't describe the smell (other than saying it smells like MY happiness). It's not really here yet, but it's above 40 today and the snow is melting or trying really hard to melt. (Some of the snow, like in my neighborhood, was piled so high that when it started melting, they started finding dead people inside cars. DEAD PEOPLE! They're also finding Christmas trees, pages of pornography (seriously, this stuff makes the news) and, of course, tons and tons of dog poop and garbage.) Although every weather forecast I see is different, the one I'm choosing to believe is the one that says it could hit 50 degrees tomorrow. Fifty. Degrees. I wouldn't have to wear my earmuffs.

Fifty degrees is a heat wave compared to the rest of the last 2 months but I saw, perhaps on Thursday, it COULD get up to 58. That's dangerous territory, my friends. Clearly no one wants it to be 60 degrees more than me, but whereas I wouldn't have to wear my earmuffs, other girls, mainly college girls, would feel as if they didn't have to wear PANTS. It's that whole freedom from being cooped up for too long mixed with their obvious desperation to make boys like them (which they will.... for a while). I can guarantee you, if it gets to 58 degrees this week, you're gonna see someone walking around in shorts.

I'll only do that inside when I'm pretending I'm on a beach in Hawaii.

There was some psychopath arrested on the 3 Train yesterday after stabbing like 10 people and killing 4. He went on a stabbing spree through Brooklyn. People saw him creepin' around the subway tracks Saturday morning and called the cops. They arrested him at Times Square, but not before he stabbed a guy in the head and neck between Penn Station and TS. I was going to work and saw on Twitter that the entire 1, 2, 3 line had been basically shut down from 96th St down and I was thinking, "What on EARTH could shut down a line that far???" All I had to do was search "penn station" into Twitter and I found the answer. I LOVE TWITTER. It is single-handedly the fastest way to get news on earth. Anyway, I was nowhere near this guy, or the 1,2,3 trains (and I don't even take them that often), but it was still SCARY! I hate the stabbarinos.

We opened the new store in Soho! We need a flag or banner or something that says that we're there and that we're open. It's beautiful, though. If I were a regular non-employee Fossil shopper, THAT is the store I would definitely want to shop in. It is really unique.

Wow, well, some guy just knocked on my box office window to scream at me for something that A. I wasn't involved in B. I didn't even see (nor was I anywhere near) C. I have no authority over. It'd be like if I yelled at YOU because I was angry at the former president of Egypt. I don't know why he didn't say something to someone who was not inside a box with no doors to the concert hall. So weird. I couldn't even say anything because after he screamed the "F word" at me several times, he just left. As always, you can never really prepare for these types of surprises. You're always too stunned to really react. It's like that time that old guy slapped me at the Times Square station. God... old people are just CRAZY, it seems.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!! I am a very lucky lady to be married to the best, nicest guy in the world. I love him. I think about it all the time. I win.

at least the groundhog said winter will end...

2011-02-03T17:59:00.002-05:00

So, last week I had off on Thursday and I just stayed home the whole day because of this big, school-closing snowstorm. Chris sent me a picture, it looked bad.... but the next day I was STUNNED by how much snow had piled up. The piles lining every sidewalk in my neighborhood are, on average, 3.5 feet high. Some are taller than me. It was CRAZY. I became very upset since that was the first I was seeing of it.

And now, of course, the piles are covered with thick ice, as is everything else. I was surprised schools weren't cancelled yesterday but I suppose because it reached 40 degrees in the afternoon I can understand why. That led to some ice and snow melting, which became water and then re-froze when the temperature dropped at night (and never got above 32 today). So now there's even MORE ice on everything. The sun was shining all day. I opened the blinds and me and kitty tried to soak it up. Then she bit my veins. It was weird.

We saw The King's Speech on Saturday. It was the first movie we've seen in the theater in almost a year (since last superbowl when we saw Avatar) and we looooved it. If Colin Firth doesn't win every award for acting that is available to be won this season, there is something seriously wrong with the people voting. This was also the first time I didn't completely HATE Helen Bonham Carter, either. The story was interesting and told really well, it was just a really good movie. On Tuesday of this week we went to the Museum of Moving Image and it was fun! I got to play an old Sega Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog (which I was REALLY GOOD at in like 1994, but not anymore), we dubbed over movie dialog with our own voices, replaced sound effects and scores to movies and even got to make our own stop-action movies. They also have regular "museum-y" stuff like costumes from tv and film, props, make-up, sketches, etc. We had a good time but when we left, after not even being there 3 full hours, we were SO TIRED. I had to take a nap.

Also on Tuesday I officially found out I'd be transferred to a new Fossil store, in Soho. There's only going to be a couple of people working there and we were all hand selected because it's going to be more "boutique-y" then the other stores. It's the first pop-up store they're trying and they have high hopes that it'll be a success. I do, too, because the ideas they threw around were so exciting. I really enjoy working for Fossil and I'd like to stay there for a long time.

Yesterday I did 5 Rockababy classes and I was exhaaaaausted. It was fun, though. It's so crazy how much the kids learn and develop when they're in the class more than one session. You come back from a break and all of a sudden a baby who HAD been only able to lay there during the first session is now crawling all over the place and squealing with delight. It's great.

my heart belongs to the napili sunset beachfront resort

2011-01-25T17:11:00.003-05:00

Last night I was at work and I totally got scammed out of $97 in the box office. We have the guy on tape. It was your basic big bill to pay for low amount, lots of change, asking for singles and then totally tricking and confusing me and me somehow never noticing I didn't have the $100 bill until I was counting the money at the end of the night. As soon as I saw it was gone I asked Chris, who was taking tickets, if he saw the guy come back. He did not. He remembered the whole thing (and the house manager saw it too) but they guy was so NICE after he left, THAT was all we had to comment on. You know, later, when we realized he stole almost $100, that's when he stopped being nice. Right before he left he even handed some guy some money and said, "Hey Buddy! You dropped this!" The guy was all "Thank you so much!" and the criminal said, "Don't thank me; I've got JESUS on my side!"

I mean, maybe he does. Maybe he's stealing for the church. Or maybe he's a member of one of the religions where if you do any amount of wrongdoing and then pray for forgiveness, it's magically granted (but if you're a perfect human being but don't pray, you're doomed to Hell). Maybe he was speaking of another Jesus... you know, the one from his neighborhood in Spanish Harlem who helps him in his career as a professional scammer. WHO KNOWS. All *I* know is that I lost my job $97 and had to file a police report for petty larceny.

It of course adds insult to injury that he made the comment about Jesus being on his side while stealing from a Jewish arts organization. Maybe it was a hate crime.

I feel bad about the whole thing but what I'm most mad about is the fact that I honestly never thought this would happen to me and I spend a large amount of time thinking of all these horrible things that could happen to me... just so I never have to say, "I never thought it would happen to me." I imagine people pushing me in front of subways, getting stabbed or mugged or shot, being in car accidents, getting terminal diseases, being in a terrorist attack... but I am SURE I saw something on Dateline NBC at some point in my life about petty scam artists and blew it off thinking, "Yeah right. I'm IMMUNE!"

(You might wonder how I am able to live a normal life while thinking of all these horrible things happening to me. You might wonder how I can possibly be a happy person. I wonder too, sometimes, but I am a happy person. I think it makes me more cynical, but that's one of my best qualities. PLUS, the cynicism evens out the happiness. Imagine how crazy happy I'd be all the time if I DIDN'T think of these things.)

In other news, I've had a headache or migraine just about every day this month. I thought at first that it was my new contacts/glasses prescription, but now I'm thinking it's the cold weather because I found out that there is a correlation between migraines and cold, dry air. Considering I have nose bleeds every day, I'd say it's pretty dry. Just another reason to move to Maui. Take a look at this webcam I found. I've been watching it a lot. Well, "watching" is probably the wrong word.... "obsessing" and "daydreaming in front of" is probably better. Sometimes I imagine the cold draft that comes in is actually a warm ocean breeze and that's whats making the trees in the video sway. If only round trip tickets to Hawaii weren't over $700.

My day went really fast today. Maybe it's because yesterday I was ta work from 6am-8:30pm with only an hour break between jobs.

winter is really bumming me out, man!

2011-01-23T14:50:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow the high is only 20 degrees. I guess I can deal with this since the next day the high is 40. What. the. eff. That just doesn't seem normal. Of course, as per usual, along with the 40 degrees temps, Tuesday is bringing another snow storm. I hate how it's always the day before rockababy and the one thing I look forward to during the week is always in jeopardy. I would say I need an attitude adjustment right about now.... and, basically, I DO, but I can't help it. We are only a MONTH into this ridiculous season, we have 2 more left, and it already feels like it's been going on for years. Blllllaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggggg.

Is there something FUN I can do in the winter? Something that will make me hate it less? I feel like I hated it less when I didn't have to walk everywhere.... but I don't have that option anymore. I guess I'd hate it even more if I didn't have ANY type of transportation from place to place and LITERALLY had to walk everywhere.... but that thought is not making me feel better. It also won't make me feel better when it's beautiful out, in the spring time, and I'm stuck inside at work. Or in the summer when it's hot as balls again and we sweat all night and spend $100+ on the electricity (air conditioning) bill. This is a terrible place to live.

Last winter seemed to be never ending, also. It did end, though. This one will end, too. I have to remember that... even though, at this point, it seems like we're caught in frozen hell.

Last winter was the first time I really thought about winter as being similar to life experiences. I remember comparing it to the last couple of minutes of the Beatles song, I Want You (She's So Heavy). It's so dark, minor-y and heavy (obviously). I would never have known this being born in 1982, but apparently the guitar riff play-off lasted on the original LP until the END OF THE RECORD. That's why, if you've only ever heard it on CD, mp3 or even tape the ending sounds so abrupt. So, you're listening to this heavy, DARK repeating pattern and it's lasting forever and forever and forever.... and then the record ran out of room, flips over and the first song on side 2 is Here Comes the Sun. Think about that when you're depressed, too. The depression seems to last forever... the WINTER seems to last forever.... but it will end. And the sun will come out. And you might cry. Not because you miss it.... but because the Beatles are freaking GENIUSES and it's too overwhelming for a normal heart to bear.

Whenever I work at 9am and Chris is working at the museum we go to work together. This morning this woman at 30th ave was screaming "HOLD THE DOOR!" as she was running up the stairs. You shouldn't hold the door ever, especially for people screaming about it, but some OTHER crazy lady DID hold the door, so the screaming woman got on. She forced herself into a seat that was too small for her: the seats fit three normal sized people but there was a normal sized girl and a big guy in the other 2 seats. She flung herself into the seat so hard that she hit the girl next to her, who was drinking tea. The tea spilled ALL OVER HER. It spilled onto her face and actually into her eyes. HOT tea. She never apologized. The crazy woman also had all these bags which were, I am not kidding you, on the poor girl's lap. Crazy woman didn't move them. In fact, her phone kept ringing and she would rummage through her purse (which still had a price tag on it), find it too late, answer anyway and then it would start to ring again. Crazy woman's coffee cup was also just resting up against the big guy in the other seat. AND THEN SHE GOT OFF THE TRAIN AFTER ONLY 2 STOPS!!!!!!!!! This is half a mile, people. She held the entire train up for 20 seconds, spilled hot liquid in a woman's face and put on the worst JERK SHOW we've ever seen and she only traveled 2 stops. Why did she need to sit down at all?????? That is why I HATE 30th avenue. Chris was laughing out loud after she got off. I was too disgusted.

street soup

2011-01-18T18:30:00.002-05:00

It's raining slush today. There is, no joke, about 4 inches of water and ice in a puddle covering the sidewalk right in front of our house for about 20 feet. I was like "You've gotta be KIDDING ME!!" Because the snow removal was so bad in this area and our landlord never had anyone shovel the sidewalk, there is just nowhere for the water to go. It's still too cold to actually melt most of the snow. It's really terrible and disgusting. I feel like we need to build a bridge to get out of here.

What's REALLY irritating is that this is not what snow boots were made for. Not PUDDLES of water. So, of course water got into my boots. Not a lot, but still. I'm hoping it's not one of those "it got in once, now it'll always get in" situations because they cost too much money. In normal rain I'd wear rain boots.... but, as we know, rain boots have no heating ability and since it's raining, essentially, ice water, I don't want to have to have my toes amputated.

As you can tell, this weather is HORRIBLE. All I can think about is spring. We had another snow storm last week, too, and I just can't TAKE IT anymore. It's all making me want to move. Of course, spring is really nice, and I'm really looking forward to exploring more of the places in Astoria that I have heard about recently. There's a place on the avenue we off of called the Creator's Co-op that I haven't been to yet (despite walking past it every day) and several restaurants I'd like to check out. Not to mention the freaking PARK. The Astoria Park is 50% of the reason I wanted to move to this area and have we been there once since we moved? Of course not. There's also the Museum of Moving Image which I'd really like to go to.

I am hoping to get some potted flowers this spring, too. I wanted to do a window box but I don't know if we could actually DO that. I just don't think it would work with our windows. Regardless, I love flowers and I'd like to try keeping them alive as long as I can. Who knows, maybe I can keep them alive for a long time. Or maybe they'll go the way of my knitting.... I'll be really good at it for a while and then it'll sit in a tote bag for 7 months.

If you're looking for some good new music, Elizabeth and the Catapult put out a great album recently. Their first one is really good, too. If you like Ingrid Michaelson or Sarah Bareilles or you'll like them. Also, if you like GOOD music you should like them. Another band new to me is Buke and Gass (new as in, I just heard them for the first time last night). Chris was ushering at work and he text me "This band reminds me of a cross between the White Stripes and you and Chris Johnston." I immediately turned on the monitor in the box office to listen (obviously). He said they had some kind of deconstructed instruments and she was this little, unassuming girl with a big, rocking voice. OF COURSE I would like them. I also became depressed that Chris Johnston and I didn't start this band first. Both these artists have albums on amazon for $5 so please, do something to better yourself and at least listen to the samples. Elizabeth and the Catapult is relatively pop-y but Buke and Gass take some pop elements and mix them with some kind of Radiohead-like intelligence and have made something very new. Anything that reminds me of Radiohead or reminds me of NOTHING gets ten thousand gold stars in the Alisa Big Book of Good Music.

I got my hair cut today. My salon (the Gigi Styling Studio by Aveda) was voted Best Salon in NYC. You'd think this would make it expensive. Nope. It's just awesome. Even though it required me to walk through the ice soup on the sidewalk it was worth it because it's so great. I've had salon loyalty before (Tease in Staunton and Rudy's in Los Angeles) but never salon AND stylist loyalty. I wouldn't want to go anywhere else in this weird city.

Lastly, I am really mad that Glee won the Golden Globe for best comedy tv show. Over 30 Rock AND Modern Family? No. First of all, it's not even that good this season. Second, it's nowhere near as good as either of those shows. Third, not a real award (I know, I know....I say "real" lightly)... a People's Choice award? Sure. Not a Golden Globe.

my kitty is a celebrity

2011-01-09T17:40:00.004-05:00

First and foremost, I must share this adorable video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you're wondering why I've posted that, take a look at the last minute of the video and then at the black cat on the right hand side. THAT'S MY CAT!!!!! I remembered her ID card saying she was on the Today show at one point, but I only got to see the clip today. I can't believe she wasn't adopted immediately after this, but we're very lucky she wasn't. She is the best little kitty in the world and we love her soooo much. Meow meow meow.

I guess it's supposed to snow bad again this week. Boo. Major boo because the storm is supposed to be Wednesday, which is the first day back at Rock-a-Baby for me. I am doing FIVE classes that day (2 substitutes in the morning and my own 3 in the afternoon). I hope I can still get everywhere and that nothing is cancelled. I hope the parents still COME to class! It's tough in the city with a stroller. I mean, I'm assuming that. I don't know for SURE, but considering it was tough to walk without a stroller during the last big snow I can guess this would be worse.

So, my manager at my box office job is quitting. She was the 3rd manager I've had in a year. How am I about to have my FOURTH MANAGER IN A YEAR there??? Sounds like a great situation, doesn't it? Uggggggh. And what's WORSE is that she made me the assistant manager and now I'm afraid they'll want to re-structure everything and I'll lose my position. I mean, anything can happen when you get a new manager. I do not want to lose my position because I do not want to have to work 7 million hours a week again. I have gotten myself to a place where I have at least 1 day off a week, even with 3 jobs, and I am not afraid that I won't be able to afford my rent. I really do not want this situation to change. I didn't DO anything so that it could, but you just never know. It happened to me at the ASC, I'm pretty sure it could happen here.

The tourist season has ended and we have a couple months before they start coming back... not that they're enjoyable months, but at least the sidewalks aren't as hard to get through anymore. The last couple of weekends before the new year 6th avenue around Radio City was seriously impassable. You literally couldn't walk 5 feet without having to dodge someone. 5th was not much better and I can't imagine any other avenue was, either, but I didn't go anywhere near them. I didn't even see the Rockefeller tree this year. Remember how I said I was going to go EVERY DAY? Yeah. That didn't happen.

Man. I just sat here for 10 minutes staring at the screen, not typing or anything. I feel depressed. It's probably the job fear. And the seasonal depression... even though I started to take vitamin D to try and combat it. Blah.

the blizz

2010-12-30T18:03:00.002-05:00

Ugggggh. I am going crazy from boredom at work. I can get bored at either of my regular jobs... but at least at Fossil there's someone to talk to... or somewhere to walk to. Not here.

So, Christmas happened! We went home on the Tuesday before and ended up staying an extra day because of the insane blizzard that hit New York. It was a great time, though. I hadn't been home for Christmas since 2006 so it was looooong overdue. My dad spent a great deal of time making a DVD of our wedding which included footage that I had never seen before because I didn't know it existed.... like the entire ceremony. He made us watch it immediately. I mean, it was awesome and so nice of him but we were so embarrassed. especially while watching our vows. I had to leave the room because I was so... incomprehensible. Then I cried during Chris's vows... but it was so nice to see the stuff Ben did and watch Greg perform, especially knowing what both of them were going through at the time.

Right after everyone started leaving at like 11pm I checked my phone and saw that I had a message from Delta telling me the flight was cancelled. I looked online and there was no hope of rebooking for anytime in the near future (or EVER, apparently, as I was never rebooked) so we decided to rent a car and drive home. The next morning (Sunday, the 26th) we were getting ready to go to the airport and the weather man was basically telling us we'd die or get stranded if we decided to go that night. We wanted neither of these things, so we called off work 24 hours in advance and decided to go the NEXT day. The drive home was perfect.... until we got onto the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan. At that point it was basically like we entered the movie The Day After Tomorrow. You would never believe the road conditions... and it was 24 hours since the peak of the storm, 18 hours after it had stopped altogether!! It was a nightmare. We somehow missed the entrance to the Triborough Bridge and ended up driving down to the Queensboro, which was nearly impossible to get on to because so many entrances were closed. We also almost got stuck in the middle of 2nd Ave in a snow drift. When we finally made it into Queens it was even worse. The main road in LIC and Astoria had not been plowed AT ALL. We followed car tracks until we got into our neighborhood which was even worse. Abandoned cars everywhere, ambulances, snow piled up 3+ feet at every corner... We couldn't even get onto our street because there was an abandoned van right in the middle, so we had to park the rental car in the middle of 24th ave, drag our stuff through the mountains of snow to our apartment to drop it off, and then get back to the car to return it to Hertz at the airport. I changed into my rain boots thinking "I'm going to be in a car and then on a bus most of the time... I won't have to worry about my feet getting too cold!" WRONG. So, LaGuardia is close enough to walk to normally. Like a 5 minute drive. It not only took 20 minutes to get there, but once we got there and dropped the car off, it took an additional TWO HOURS to get home! We just missed a shuttle from the rental place to the main airport and then I saw the M60 drive by. We ran out, but we missed it, but I figured another would come by soon, which was so, soooo stupid of me. I swear to God only 1 of the buses must have been running on the entire line. We waited outside, after wading through snow, for half an hour before I literally started to think I had frost bite on my toes and Chris made us go back to Hertz to wait for the shuttle. My toes hurt so bad I was almost in tears. After we got the main part of the airport we had to get in the 1 taxi line that was open, which was over an hour long because cabs only arrived every 5 minutes. By the grace of God, after only about half an hour, the girl at the front of the line was also going to Astoria and they asked for any other passengers going that way. We of course jumped on it. I got home, ran my feet under warm water and rubbed them until they started to get itchy and I knew I would have toes another day and wouldn't have to amputate them.

Man. I would not last long in a wintertime emergency situation.

Anyway, so the next day I was supposed to work at 8am and just as I was about to walk out the door, NY1 said the entire N train line had been suspended. It eventually, apparently, came back, but I was an hour and a half late for work. I called, obviously. Since none of the buses were running, the train was our only way out. It's been crazy. Things are getting better but there is still soooo much snow everywhere. Most roads, especially in Queens, have barely been touched by a plow and even intersections like 5th Ave and 42nd street are hard to walk through from so much snow piled up. What I hate the MOST is the fact that you don't know if a puddle is just a little bit of water or several inches of water. I've started dipping my toes in to check.

In better news, the sun was finally out today and I soaked up as much of it as I possibly could while sitting on the train. We also got a blue ray DVD player (which was Chris's Christmas present from me). I can't wait until I have a day off. It's stupid to say that after I just had a whole BUNCH of days off while in Ohio, but that snow drama felt like a week.

And so, we are at the close of another year. Faster than we'll be able to handle, it'll already be July and we'll be complaining about how hot and miserable it is.

sick, dizzy and spectacular

2010-12-16T13:53:00.003-05:00

Looks like I didn't keep my promise about blogging more to make up for last month. Right NOW I feel like a lot has suddenly just happened, so I will write about it to remind my future self of when these events took place.

So, right now I am sick. I knew I was going to get sick-- everyone around me was sick-- but I was trying to hold out until today to do it. I did not succeed. I woke up on Tuesday and had I been scheduled to work anywhere that day I would have had to legitimately call off because I was just soooooo sick. My whole body hurt, I was so stuffed up and DIZZY... I could have dealt with everything else but the dizziness was too much. I have been loading my system with vitamin C, zinc and tylenol cold medicine. I still have a ridiculous amount of snot. Sometimes it clouds my sinuses and makes my eyeballs hurt but right now it is mainly staying in my throat, lungs and nose. It's actually made breathing kind of hard at times. The snot mixed with how COLD it is. On Tuesday night my throat swelled up and I could barely swallow.... luckily that hasn't happened as bad since. It was bad. I didn't want to get sick before my last Rockababy class of the year but I did... and I barely made it through the FIRST class without losing my voice let alone the second. But, I seem to be getting better (knock on wood) so hopefully I won't get sick again until.... well, never.

My poor kitty had a tapeworm. She must have come with the tapeworm because she definitely didn't have fleas when we got her. We took her to the vet on Tuesday to get it taken care of. It was the only thing I did on Tuesday. Tapeworms are really not that bad... it doesn't really affect kitty's general health too much and they're REALLY easy to get rid of... the only thing that is super gross is the terrible little "seeds" that are shed from the tapeworm and are left anywhere she sat. I mean... seriously. Gross. I had been vacuuming the floor, carpet, couch and bed like EVERY DAY because I was so super grossed out by these things. I noticed them immediately. Chris said he probably would have never noticed them which is even grosser. While at the vet he showed us that one of her teeth is WAY bigger than the other ones which is some kind of exposed gum thing. We're not sure what it is going to mean until they can take x-rays but we don't have money for that right now. They said it should be fine but we'll have to look into it further in a couple of months.

A couple of weeks ago we found out Praire Home Companion was going to be playing at the concert hall I work at on Christmas Day... the first Christmas in 4 years that I will be in Ohio for! I went crazy because just the previous day I saw that they were playing all over NYC this month and I mentioned how I wished they would come to our hall. Well, they are coming but I won't be there. So, I went crazy. However, I expressed my dismay to our booking manager, who used to be the touring manager for them, and the next day they offered her free tickets to the performance at Town Hall but she already HAD tickets so she offered them to me! It was amazing that I had off because I ALWAYS work on Saturdays but this was the one night I didn't have to work. Chris was able to get someone to cover his shift at the last minute and we had the best time. The seats were 4th row center and Elvis Costello was on the program... and he performed right in front of us! It was the best. Not that I listen every week but I've been listening to PHC since I was like 7 years old. I think I actually remember the very FIRST time I heard it. It was great. I am really, really happy we got to go.

Last night I walked in the door after I got back from Rockababy and Chris said, "Ok. I made food for you and then we have to go." The first thought I had was that there was some kind of emergency situation in New York. The second was that we had somehow offended our landlord and were getting kicked out. I was too sick to express any of these fears, however, so I just looked at him and said "why?" He then handed me a piece of paper of some kind of ticket he had purchased. I stared at it for a long time. It had an ad for Cirque Du Soleil's Wintuk. I was even more confused. I said, "We're going to see Wintuk?" I mean, sure, I'd go see that, but I didn't know why he'd purchased tickets for it. I wondered if maybe someone gave them to him at work. Then, finally, he pointed to the actual TICKET part and it said we were going to

THE RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR!!!!!

I have wanted to see the Rockettes my entire life. They always played in Cleveland during Christmas and I never got to go. I think they are AMAZING. We obviously didn't go last year and I had kind of resigned myself to the fact that we were not going this year because, I mean, it's already halfway through December. So, when he pointed to the title my voice got really high and I said, "We're really going?" He said yes, I ate the rice and chicken and then we went to the most spectacular show in the entire world. It was unbelievable. I mean, whatever, it's crazy and it's there to make tons and tons of money but it is AMAZING. There is no way anyone could deny the "spectacular" in the title. Everything about it is spectacular. It is the DEFINITION of "spectacular." First of all, Radio City is amazing. It is literally what I think of when I think of Christmas. It's what you'd EXPECT Macy's to look like, except Macy's is TERRIBLE and ghetto and you walk in and you immediately want to walk back out or start to cry. I mean, I walked through those doors and my mouth was hanging open. I don't know if I've ever said "wow" so many times in my life. We were sitting in the last row of the 2nd mezzanine but it was great because you could see everything. This theatre holds nearly 6,000 seats. Unbelievable. They do like 4 shows a day, too! It's crazy. So, anyway, the show was incredible. The girls were amazing (I challenge YOU to take 39 of your friends, line up in a perfectly straight line and then spin that line without there being a huge bend somewhere), the special effects were amazing (there was 3D, flying, snow and the best tech I've ever seen) AND there were sheep, a donkey and camels. WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR???? If you want to be artistically challenged by thought-provoking theatre, this is obviously not the show for you.... but if you want to see the most amazing, spectacular show in the entire world.... there is no other option. I wish I could be a Rockette.

We are leaving on Tuesday morning for Ohio. This is really the first visit since Thanksgiving 2009. Yes, we were there for 2 days in February and I saw my parents for 6 hours in August when we moved our stuff, but neither of those really count since we were there for other reasons than just visiting. Now we will VISIT!

kitties and turkeys

2010-11-28T16:48:00.002-05:00

I haven't updated in a long time and now it's almost December. UGH! Time always go so fast.

Well, we did get a kitty on the 9th and it was the best decision ever! We adopted her from the NYC ACC and she's perfect. We named her Jessie and she's all black with orange eyes. We saw 2 kitties that day and I was so sure we were going to go with the first one we saw (before we met Jessie). I kind of said, "Oh suuuuuure. We'll see the other cat!" just to, like, humor them. Of course we loved them both. We picked Jessie because she was smaller and I liked her eyes. She's so sweet. I mean, yeah, she's insane and wants to be fed all the time, but she will just sit on your lap and go to sleep all day. I love her. Meow.

Christmas time has arrived! You know... sort of. Chris and I ordered food from Whole Foods for Thanksgiving. It was delicious. It was even MORE delicious since I didn't have to try and cook a turkey myself. Black Friday was not the retail death I thought it was going to be. What's been worse is the fact that our heat is broken yet we keep the door open at work. It is SO COLD! All the employees just stand around shivering.

I keep getting really, really tired really easily all the time. I just took a little sip of 5 hour energy because I'm so tired I feel like the last 2 hours of work are going to suck but I don't want FIVE HOURS of energy. That's way too much. I want to go to bed. These 5 hour energy people just walked into the store on Black Friday to give us some. I totally took it. It was like being in college again when the Red Bull truck would just drive up to you and you'd get free stuff.

We went to the South Street Seaport Christmas Tree lighting on Friday night! It was great! I thought we were a little late, but we got there at the perfect time: to see the tree actually go on and then to see Darlene Love perform! I love her. She sings on David Letterman every year. I couldn't believe how not crowded it was. Rockefeller Center it isn't, but still. It was the first Tree Lighting of the season, you'd think there'd be more people.

The Nostalgia train is running again and I can't WAIT to ride it. Hopefully next Sunday I'll be able to if even for a little while. Chris and I won't be able to ride it together until the 26th when we get back from Ohio but maybe I'll have a little time before then, too. I'm a busy lady.

I have lost my desire to keep writing so I'll try to post sooner next time.

time travel day

2010-11-07T15:29:00.002-05:00

Hello! It's been a while again. I get busy, folks... I get busy.

So, my birthday came and went (that's the first time I've ever been that non-chalant about my birthday ever) and it was good. I had some friends from the ASC who live here over, including my Best Birthday Buddy, Greg, who doesn't get AS into Halloween as I do. I forced them all to play games and laughed a lot. I laughed the MOST when they played the eat-the-donut-on-a-string-without-using-your-hands game and the donut kept smacking Greg in the face. I laughed until my abs hurt. I could barely START the game.

I got a couple gift cards for my birthday... I might be using one of them this week in case we GET A KITTY!!!! I don't want to jinx it.... but I am also excited. We're going to meet a few kitties on Tuesday, I think. It's all I wanted for my birthday. I really want to get TWO kitties... we'll see, though. MEOW!

Christmas started at 12:01am on November 1st and it was actually awesome. Listen. I might hate NYC a lot of the time, but I LOVE Christmas in New York. It's the best place in the world. It is literally like living in Disney World in the good way. Yes, there are too many people in New York and not enough stuff for there to be sales on the things that *I* want, and it's so SCARY to go shopping because it's so crowded... but other than that it is AMAZING!!!!!!! There's ice skating, pop up shops, everything is decorated (everything. Streets, stores, trees, everything), everything is on sale, Santa Claus is there, those giant gingersnap cookies in Central Park, Starbucks holiday flavors, the Rockettes, Christmas music playing from speakers IN LAMP POSTS.... it's incredible. I bet Disney World is actually just like this at Christmas.

Speaking of Disney, the new, gigantic store is opening in Times Square on TUESDAY! Yay. I am so excited. The one on 5th ave closed at the end of last year and I was devastated. I used to go there after particularly bad days at work.... which was all the time at that place.... and it was the only thing that would make me feel better. Then it closed and I was so sad.... but now the new one is opening and it's going to be amazing. I work on 5th ave and I feel like every day after work in December I am going to walk out of my way to see either the Rockefeller Center tree or the Bryant Park Tree and go to the Disney store once a week. It will be the best time ever!!

Today was the NYC Marathon! I knew a couple of people who were running. It seemed like everyone was late coming in today because of it. That, or the MTA's craptacular Sunday Subway Service. I know on Sundays, if I work at 8am, I will either be 20 minutes early for work or 10 minutes late. There is absolutely no way to be RIGHT on time or even a little early or late. NOPE. Just ridiculous extremes. I hate Sundays so much. I also hate that Hale and Hearty soup is not open on Sundays. WHY??? People need soup on Sunday! I don't think the Daily Soup is open on the weekend at all! I had to go to the Food Emporium for soup.... and it was only ok. Maybe they'll be open on Sunday as it gets closer to winter. Yes, the cold has suddenly come upon us, but apparently the SOUP places refuse to acknowledge it. Jerks.

So, the marathon ended at 66th and Central Park West and I work (my OTHER job) at 67th and Broadway. That's 2/10s of a mile away so I keep seeing people wrapped in their marathon heat blankets. I don't think I could run a marathon. I think I could PHYSICALLY run it... but I think, somewhere around the 20th mile, I would be so bored and frustrated that there was STILL more to run that I would start crying.... and I think that would affect my time.

thoughts on harry potter

2010-10-23T22:49:00.003-04:00

As I'm sure you know, I have spent the last 2.5 months re-reading the Harry Potter series. It took a while to get started... things kept getting in the way like ordering the first book on amazon and having it never arrive.... going to SEVERAL bookstores before I actually was able to find a copy for some reason... but I started around the time we moved into our current apartment and I've been reading a couple chapters a night.

This was my first re-reading of the series. I think I had read parts of Half-Blood Prince before the 7th book came out, but I am pretty sure I only read the entire book once. Most of these books I hadn't read since 2005, the last I hadn't read since 2007. It was definitely the right time. I had forgotten enough to be surprised and appreciate the humor while KNOWING enough to look for clues in the earlier books.

The first 2 were, you know, fine. I have suddenly found myself surrounded by people my age or slightly younger who have not read these books at all (SERIOUSLY??? How is it POSSIBLE??) and when I am telling them to get started I say, "Read the first 2 as fast as you can. The third book is where it picks up. The fourth is one of the best books ever." I definitely appreciate PoA (the 3rd book) a lot more now than I did. I always thought it was GOOD but now I'm kind of thinking it's amazing.

In regards to Goblet of Fire (or book 4), the first time I read that book, when Cedric died in the graveyard and Harry's parents (etc, all) came out of Voldemort's wand, I literally threw the book across the room. I was late for work that day because I could not stop reading. I did not THROW the book this time. I did cry.

The fifth book is pretty much the same for me as it was before.... long and hard to get through. I despise Umbridge SO MUCH that it's actually torturous. The first time I read this book it was nearly impossible for me to accept Sirius's death. I didn't realize the killing curse, though never actually WRITTEN in the book, was implied, so I didn't know what happened to him to make him die, and I thought, like Harry, that he'd be back any moment. I loved Sirius so much. He was one of my favorite characters. His death is one of the hardest to take in the series.

I definitely had a minor emotional break down when Snape killed Dumbledore in the 6th book, which I read surprisingly fast. The last 3 books are so effing long, but they're so well done that I would spend all my free alone time just reading on the couch until Chris got home. That's what I did tonight to finish the 7th book.

Now, again, I had not read this book since 2007 and what you have to understand is that I read it SO FAST and like, in the middle of the NIGHT when I was already exhausted from being in rehearsal all the time, that I did not take in everything that happened. It was practically like I was reading it for the first time, just knowing that several people would die and that Harry was a Horcrux. I kept saying that summer that I needed to go back and reread parts... that, obviously, never happened.

Let me tell you.... I had completely, 100%, forgotten about the Deathly Hallows. THAT IS THE TITLE OF THE BOOK. Not remembering ANYTHING about them, I was, at times, talking to the book. Telling Harry moot instructions that I literally was guessing at because I couldn't remember! I looked back at my old blog and read that I didn't really understand them in my haste to get through it... I don't know why. Not only did they make sense, but they are AMAZING!!!! The thing she does that I love the MOST is when she makes the Wizarding world seem possible in OUR world. Like taking everyday things like saying an old shoe on the side of the road is actually a portkey or a children's story having it's history based on fact (like the deathly hallows).... I just love that crap. Her imagination in amazing.

I did not beat the ground with my fists when Tonks and Lupin died this time. I knew it was coming and, actually, I remembered it being more climactic than it is. However, I totally forgot that Lupin almost ran out on Tonks and that they asked Harry to be the godfather. I had forgotten that Dobby died. DOBBY. I moaned, "Dobby, nooooooooooooo" as I closed the book and cried. I had forgotten about Moody's death. I had forgotten about that creepy scene where Nagini is actually that old lady, Bathilda Bagshot or whatever. I had forgotten the extent to which Snape loved Lily.

When Snape's dying words to Harry are, "Look... at...me....." so he can see HER eyes again.

How he begged Voldemort to save her.... how she was his Patronus.... it's hard to bear. It's hard to imagine that poor man's life of unrequited love and helping Harry because she was his mother's child.

But, again, the most poignant moment to me is still when Harry asks Dumbledore if the purgatory world is real or if it's just in his head and Dumbledore replies, "Of course is is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

A second reading of this line brought back memories of Narnia. Of so much spirituality. Of having my own crazy imagination that, at times, feels muffled.

So, despite the fact that I love it when Mrs. Weasley calls Bellatrix a bitch right before killing her, the previous line resonated with me more.

When I finished the book and wiped away the tears, I stood up and practically hugged it saying, "I'll miss you, Harry Potter." I just can't wait to share it with more people.

spooooky times are approaching

2010-10-13T11:18:00.004-04:00

Well, it's been a month. I thought about writing but then I never would. Typical.

We just got back from Virginia and Ginna's wedding on Monday. I had been looking forward to this wedding for so long it was almost unbelievable that it was actually there. It was perfect. Ginna looked AMAZING and everything was very fun and original. She asked us to sing Maria Taylor's Cartoons and Forever Plans and that went well, too. I was so happy to be involved. I had never been involved in a wedding besides my own before this one! I think that's CRAZY for a singer who is almost 28!

Jenny made Ginna's dress, too, and it was literally a piece of art. People ACTUALLY screamed as she entered the room. Jenny has made 3 dresses in the past year and has at least 2 more coming up that I know about. Here is a sample of what she's done.

That's obviously me in the first picture, our friend Denice from the ASC in the second and Ginna and her dad in the last picture. All completely different, yet completely beautiful. Ginna's dress was also a CONVERTIBLE dress! The bottom part of the skirt came off for her party time. People literally screamed. It was amazing. It has actually taken this long for the full weight of the dress to sink in for me. I told Jenny every time I see a picture I faint a little bit. It's kind of true. I am really looking forward to seeing the professional pictures.

So, clearly, I had a great time at the wedding. The day after we got home we got a save the date for another wedding in Staunton (Johnston and Lindsey... who have been engaged since 2008! Also, let me just say... their engagement was the best day of MY life. It was right after ours and I lost it in the middle of the street when they told me. I had also PREDICTED it in the shower that morning, which was weird, because they had only been dating like 6 months when it happened) and I'm pretty sure Tyler and Sybille are also getting married in Staunton, so we'll be back before you know it. I need to start a wedding trip fund. For real.

I would also like to say that Ginna's family is so amazing. Her parents are some of the nicest people I have ever met and her sister Kelly is just a doll. What a lucky, lucky lady to have such wonderful people in her life.

So! Other news. Well, I found out 2 of my friends are dating and have been for SIX MONTHS, and I had no idea. This isn't like an "I found out on facebook after having not seen either of them in years" thing, either. This is a "I literally see them several times a week, had seen them TOGETHER, and still had no idea" thing. I was thinking about asking my friend Lyndsay if she was seeing anyone that day, because we had never really talked about it, and then I found out that night, in the surprise of the century. Then, of course, I had so many questions... only one of which I actually asked. I am really happy about it, though. They're both so nice and it's always great when nice people get together.

My birthday is coming up really soon. It is actually only 2.5 weeks away!!! BOOOOOOOOOO!!! I am still only half decorated. I got busy. Too busy to write and too busy to decorate. Of course, I STARTED decorating on September 30th at like 10:30pm..... I just haven't done much since then. I am planning on going to a couple of Halloween stores tonight after my rockababy classes. I can't buy anything, but I am planning on dragging Chris around them for a very spooky adventure. In a store. I am so broke until I get paid tomorrow it isn't even funny. Seriously, it's not at all funny. Don't laugh at the fact that I have only $10 left. I had a lot to buy at the end of the month, like train tickets to Staunton. Luckily, I get paid tomorrow and Friday so at least I'll have money for cereal again. Sadly, I foresee lots of being broke in my future with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up.

The price of the metro cards is going up FIFTEEN DOLLARS on January 1st and that makes me want to cry. I won't really cry, but it is depressing. You know WHY I ride the subway? To get to work. Now I have to work MORE just to make up for the fact that my transportation TO WORK is more expensive. Grumble. This is why every place of employment in NYC should offer their employees a debit card where half the amount of the card is taken out of each paycheck pre-tax, so they can buy the card. Chris's job does that. Every single job should. I have been saving my metro card receipts all year so that I can write them off on my taxes. Stupid metro card. BLAH.

it's all happenin' at the zoo

2010-09-15T15:24:00.003-04:00

Today is my last Wednesday totally off for a while. Chris started his rock-a-baby classes this morning and I have my first session for fall next week. I am excited but of course I will miss my day off. Having a day off is so great! Today I finally was able to use a groupon I got last month for the Astor Bake Shop near our apartment in Astoria and it was so effing adorable I wanted to hug it. First of all, I love our neighborhood so much and especially THIS part as opposed to the part we used to live. 30th ave is nice if you like... I don't know.... to be annoyed... but Ditmars is great if you love things that are adorable, which I definitely do. This cafe isn't really near Ditmars, but it's close enough to consider it not 30th ave. Anyway, the food was so good and they played the Beatles the whole time we were in there. The only problem was that they were playing a recording of Revolver in stereo and the playback was in mono... so we heard only half the vocals to most songs and almost no vocals on Yellow Submarine (which, of course, isn't the worst thing in the world for that song. We just enjoyed the ocean sounds).

Last Wednesday we went to the Bronx Zoo and had the BEST TIME!!!!! It was donation day, so we got in cheap but it was so great I'm planning on getting a membership for next year. The membership gives you entrance for 2 into all the NYC zoos and the Aquarium (including all the extras that cost more) plus 10% off food and gift shop and it's only $94. Considering the Aquarium costs $25 for one person by itself, this is a serious deal. The last time I went to a zoo (not including Animal Kingdom) was the San Diego Zoo which actually scared me off zoos because it made me feel so bad for the animals. They were all in such small cages and I remember seeing one of the big cats pacing back and forth continuously and it made me so upset because I felt like that cat had gone insane from being cooped up. This zoo was totally different and more like Animal Kingdom where it's a simulated reality for the animals. I loved it so much and the weather was basically perfect. The food was also surprisingly good. I got this big cup with lions on it that cost $9 but was refillable. We were exhausted at the end of the day but had such a great time.

I am so happy the weather has been more reasonable the last couple of days. We did have a few hot days last week, but it wasn't too bad. Of course, the weather also made me sick. It's nearing the end, but I've had a cold since Friday. Sunday was the worst. We went to this diner nearby because we had no food to cook and I couldn't taste my soup at all except when I blew my nose. It was annoying. I'm now in the backed up phlegm phase where I'm constantly clearing my throat and having to spit. Like a lady.

Tonight we are going to a haunted house for FREE! I haven't been to one since 2006 so I'm excited. It's going to be boo-riffic. And probably scary. I do really well at haunted houses (as opposed to scary movies where I just can't watch them at all) but I have a feeling that a New York haunted house is going to be REALLY scary. My sister is working at Cedar Point's Halloweekends again this year and she asked me what the scariest thing I've ever seen was. I told her it was the zombie ghost of a vampire werewolf dressed as a mummy. I can't wait for my birthday. :)

you can ride backwards on the lirr

2010-09-02T13:33:00.001-04:00

I think Conan O'Brien might secretly write for groupon. Take a look at what the "groupon says" cat had to say about a groupon in Cleveland:

"Here are some fire safety tips to keep you out of harm's way:

1. First, make sure it's really a fire you're dealing with and not a still photo of a fire or a fraternity brother dressed as a fire.
2. Fires are allergic to knives.
3. Shouting at fires will not make them go away, but it will lower their temperatures enough to punch them.
4. Fire only burns those who believe in it."

I laughed out loud for real.

Yesterday I went to the beach! Oh man. I was so happy. We went to Jones Beach, which is known as one of the best beaches in New York (state). It's a state park, so there's not much around and no hotels nearby, so making it a weekend trip would be hard, but I loved it. I loved every minute of the hour and a half we were there. I honestly couldn't stay any longer because it was literally the first time all summer I had been out in the sun on purpose. I had sunscreen all over my body, and I mostly used spf 50, and I reapplied it like... every 20 minutes... but I was still scared. And rightly so. The sun is DANGEROUS. But, luckily, I didn't get burned and I also no longer look like a vampire which was exactly what I wanted. The trip there wasn't too bad, either despite the next sentence: N to 30th, walk to Steinway, R to Roosevelt, E to Sutphin, LIRR to Freeport, N88 to Jones Beach. It was a lot of transfers but the LIRR was so fun (and only $21 for two roundtrip tickets!!!) and I was smiling like I was on a roller coaster the entire time.

After we got home yesterday I was EXHAUSTED and starving. I ate 3 pieces of pizza, 3 cheesey garlic things and 2 cinna-pizza things (we ordered from papa johns). I then laid on the couch, half asleep, watching PBS until 9:30pm when I nearly died because I could not take the heat in the living room any more. It was unbearable. We went to bed, but really I read the end of my Harry Potter 3 book for an hour and then half an issue of Glamour magazine. Listen, though. Harry Potter is AMAZING! If you're a fan and haven't read them since the 7th book came out in 2007, it's time to reread them. I had forgotten so much. I forgot that Scabbers was Pettigrew! The 3rd book is so excellent. I mean, what an amazing, original, exciting plot. That JK Rowling. She's good. I am excited to start the 4th book tonight, which is my favorite despite the fact that it's also the first one I cried during and also the one I threw across the room (when Cedric died). I suppose throwing it across the room is no beating the floor with my fists during hysterical crying (like I did during the 7th book... perhaps a couple of times) but it's still pretty dramatic. I love Harry Potter.

I really like having these days off on Wednesdays. It's been so great. I feel like I'm trying to fit the entire summer into 4 days off. Next week we're thinking about going to a baseball game. Even though it would be the Yankees, it'd still be fun. I like to get souvenir cups.

There's a hurricane a-coming! Sort of. The hurricane was half the reason I insisted on going to the beach yesterday. Labor Day and the hurricane will bring summer to a nice end. And this time, it BETTER END. I am tired of being too hot to sit on the couch. The weather gave us a reminder of fall last week (or the week before? I can't remember) and it was great. Not that I want winter to come, because I DO NOT want that. I think I could deal with an abnormally long spring and fall every year, though.

mysterious fall

2010-08-24T14:01:00.003-04:00

Blargh. I am so busy at work today that I might not have time to actually write this. Now THAT is busy. For here. Apparently it rained a little bit and it's cutting off our phone service and making the computers run hella slow. Yesterday the phones were down the entire day, today they just keep cutting in and out. Obviously this makes us useless when it happens.

It has suddenly become Fall and I love it! Everyone looks better when they're not sweating. It also gives me the great opportunity to wear more clothes, which means... more layers. YAY! Fall will end and go back to hot again in a couple days, but we are loving it right now. It will come back for real eventually.

So, Chris and I moved our stuff from Ohio last week. The trip was pretty smooth but man were we tired. I only got to see my parents for about 4 hours before I went to sleep (since I had to wake up at 5am... again) and my sister for, like, 2.5 hours. We went to Rocknees in Kent and she showed us her brand new (for her) "big girl" apartment. Strangely enough, Chris used to live in the same apartment complex, back in 1992. It was HIS first apartment, too.

Anyway, we didn't even run into that much traffic until we were trying to get on to the George Washington Bridge, which took about 45 minutes to get through since we didn't have EZPass. The actual unloading of the truck was relatively okay, too.... we had some issues getting OUR couch through the door, but it happened. Chris did have to take off the door, though. His friend Manny and his girlfriend helped us. We repaid them with pizza.

Unpacking has been great. We had so much stuff that I totally forgot about (like a measuring cup). The other day, just because I found our big pot and frying pan, I made corn on the cob and tacos. I love our little apartment right now. I'll love it more when we're totally done unpacking, but I still love it a lot.

Tomorrow is MY FIRST DAY OFF IN 2 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo excited. I am going to get a haircut and we are going to Ikea (to get a bookshelf). Maybe I should get a pedicure, too. Oh man. That's crazy talk. This haircut is pretty necessary, though. I haven't gotten a REAL haircut since February (just my bangs trimmed) so the ends of my hair are looking stupid. I have a groupon for a lunch bakery in Astoria so maybe I can convince Chris that we should go THERE, too. Tomorrow is also Ribs Night at the Brooklyn Ikea. I won't be having any but I am SURE Chris will. I originally wanted to go to the beach or something on my glorious day off, but it's gonna be too cold. It looks like I am going to have a day off next Wednesday, too, so maybe if Chris also has off, we could go then. After summer returns.

mailing machine fail

2010-08-17T12:08:00.005-04:00

I just used this mailer thing that seals and stamps envelopes for you for the first time and I swear the administrative assistant sitting across the hall from the room must think I'm a moron, now. So many things went wrong: it jammed like 15 times, I sent a big stack through in the wrong direction, the finished stack got too high and the mail went flying all over the place.... it was like an episode of I Love Lucy. Apparently I should become a secretary just for the hilarity.

We are going to Ohio! For 24 hours. I will be happy to see my family but I wish we got to stay longer than we are staying. It's going to be a rough 2 days. We're flying into Pittsburgh to pick up the truck, driving to Kent and then Huron, loading the truck and then leaving early to get back to NYC relatively early. Then we have to unload the truck. BLAH! At least we'll finally have our stuff. I am SO looking forward to having my real nightstand back instead of the clothes hamper I've been using. PLUS, our dining room table, couch and ottoman, rug, half our clothes, books, instruments, kitchen EVERYTHING and, of course, Halloween and Christmas decorations. We have FOUR closets in our new apartment. FOUR! It's pretty awesome.

When we moved in there were already these butterfly foot grip things on the bathtub floor. I have this butterfly picture that I have traditionally always hung in the bathroom, also, so I decided to make butterflies the theme of the bathroom. I went to anthropologie searching out butterfly doorknobs. I was sure they would have them, and in typical anthropologie fashion, they, of course, did. Anthropologie is always there to make my ridiculous dreams come true. They are perfect. I had no idea WHAT they would look like, but I was sure they would have them. Plus, they were on sale for $3 each. THREE. DOLLARS. Now I've started thinking it would be a great idea for me to give a ridiculous theme to every room. I could do owls and birds in the kitchen, butterflies in the bathroom and trees everywhere else. PERFECT! If only we had a garage.

I have a big bruise on the back of my calf and I don't know where it came from. The fact that it hurts makes it even more mysterious than it already is.

Man. I am so excited for fall. I just want to be able to wear more clothes. I have perfected the art of layers. Even 1 layer seems like it's too much half the time this summer. Well, today is the exception. Today's weather is perfect after yesterday's humidity festival. And, obviously, today is the day I work both jobs and have a 10 hour day. Someday I would like to have 1 job (and rockababy). I miss the free time. I switched someone at work yesterday so I could have a morning shift and hang out with Chris and it was the best decision ever. Well, one of them. I definitely cooked dinner. I also definitely sat on the couch watching a show about NY's parks.

On Saturday night Chris and I ate 5 Guys and then travelled out to Flushing to play miniature golf. It was fun! I totally got a hole in one on the last hole. I was still like 15 over par, but who cares. We both only hit the ball into the water once. When we were leaving a gentleman with no neck asked us for money! Well, actually, he didn't ASK, he just tapped Chris on the shoulder and held out his hand. Maybe he couldn't speak because of his lack of neck. He was actually pretty terrifying. He creeped over to us so slowly and silently that I was afraid he was going to push me onto the tracks. If I ever make a horror movie, he will be in it.

My first day off in 2 months day off is slowly but surely approaching. I will find out for SURE if it's a day off when I get my schedule (which should be today, but who REALLY knows), but I don't know why it wouldn't be. I never get scheduled on Wednesday unless I can't work another day and next week is the first week in a month where I don't have any conflicts. So, it would be awful and probably ironic if I DID get scheduled. I hope I don't. I want to, like, do something amazing. Or at least something that is not work.

feelin' hot, hot, hot!

2010-08-10T13:09:00.002-04:00

Whew! Wow. I can't believe that it's been a week since I wrote that short post, because it feels like it just happened. I am insane. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to move on Thursday. I mean, it was fine, but listen to my last week:

8/3: Work 2 jobs--10 hours
8/4: Rockababy, work 1 job
8/5: Work 5 hours, move into new apartment for 6 hours
8/6: Callback, work 1 job, rehearsal at night
8/7: Rehearsal from 12-9pm
8/8: 8am Work meeting, rehearsal at 10am-3pm, performance that evening
8/9: Work 8am-1pm, 2pm performance, 8pm performance
8/10: Work 2 jobs--10 hours

AHHHHHH!!! I've been going insane. We don't have internet in the new apartment yet but it hasn't been so bad since I've hardly been there for something other than sleeping. At least we got our new TV. I did get to watch 2 episodes of "Friends" on DVD.... one of those days. I needed my Friends... and they were, like always, there for me.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun doing the staged reading and although the woman from Ave Q didn't end up being in it (she booked a movie. a MOVIE!), the woman who replaced her was wonderful, talented and very, very nice. There were other Broadway people, though... so... there. I decided I would sing alto in the ensemble which I haven't done in YEARS. I haven't sung alto since, like, 1998. I'm usually not actually good at alto.... I'm better at a 2nd soprano or a soprano harmony that's above an alto melody, but this was fun. Anyway, the audience was full every performance and I got to spend time with Adam, who I hadn't seen in about 5 years, and Alana, and I made other new friends, so it was great.

My callback on Friday was ok, although it could have been better. Actually, for the first time ever, it would have been better if I would have sang LESS. They told us to bring in 2 songs, 32 bars EACH. That is SO MUCH music for an audition. They wanted belt and soprano from me, so I sang the song I auditioned with and decided on a whim to sing "Think of Me" from POTO for the soprano. This, too, was something I haven't done since 1998. I would never, ever normally sing that song at an audition, but I decided to look at the lyrics in a different way... a way where Christine was being very passive aggressive about how angry she really was. And, textually, you could argue that point. But in 32 bars, there is only so much passive aggressiveness you can play before it gets old. And it got old to ME so I can't imagine what it was like for them. My other song was good, though. It didn't get old. Oh well. In all honesty, had i actually gotten cast in this show it would have been amazing and annoying at the same time. The last 2 performances surround Ginna's wedding on October 10th, which is something I would NOT miss (especially since I'm singing in it). I would have had to rush to Staunton and back and it would not have been fun.... it would have been do-able... but very stressful... and now, all not getting cast means is that I can take a fun train trip with my husband. Yay. :)

In other news, I like our new apartment! I haven't been able to unpack... and I won't REALLY be able to until we get our stuff from Ohio... but it actually feels like my HOME. The neighborhood is so nice. They have brick sidewalks and cars actually YIELD to you when you're crossing the street! I didn't know what to do the first time this happened. I was thinking, "WHERE AM I????" The annoying families of 20 apparently all live at my old subway stop so I haven't had to deal with them and being at the end of the line is AMAZING! You always get a seat on the train, you don't have to wait in the heat, if the train goes express you totally WIN and underneath the station is a restaurant called, "The End of the Line Cafe." How adorable. The only problem with our apartment right now is that the wiring in the house must be very, very old because the neighbor's air conditioner, which must be like, 50 million BTUs, sometimes makes our lights dim. And the microwave or fan do the equivalent of "dimming." My dad is worried about what this would do to our TV or computers and I don't blame him. We're going to have to call the landlord. We're also going to have to call him because the old tenants left a couch and dining room table. Right NOW it's awesome, because our couch and dining room table are in Ohio, but it won't be awesome in a week when we have our stuff there. Maybe we could sell them. I wonder. Money for nothing is the best kind of money!

it took too long to find the q18

2010-08-02T22:33:00.002-04:00

Last Thursday we signed the lease for our apartment! Hooray! I think we're actually getting the keys tomorrow, too. The old tenants moved out on Saturday and the landlord just had to go in and make sure things were a-okay before we moved in. Of course, I have to work the entire day tomorrow, and most of Wednesday but we're still planning on moving in on the 5th, even though I have my callback, work and then rehearsal on the 6th. Well, and I have to work on the 5th, too. And so does Chris. So, it's gonna be crazy. But we have to make it happen!!

Today we went all over the place and what we ended up with was a new TV (for when we get TV!), a rolling cart (a good one, too) and some foot pain from walking almost all the way from Woodside to Astoria. We were going to get a microwave, too, but we wouldn't have been able to carry it back. I'm too weak.

Right now I have a migraine which makes me sad. It also makes it hard to think about continuing this post, so I think I will leave it at that for now.

it rained and the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 20 minutes

2010-07-26T13:17:00.004-04:00

I don't have to work until 5pm today which makes me feel like I'm working in the theatre, but... I'm not. Theatre of Accessories. It's a topic we must have missed in Theatre History.

Apparently it's really nice out. I don't know for real because I haven't been outside yet, having only woken up at 12:30pm. I'm kind of busy this week: I have two jobs Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, so I figured I better sleep while I can. Also, I just didn't wake up. I will definitely be happy for the extra 10 hours of pay on my next paycheck. Since there's only limited performances at the concert hall in the summer, I've been down to only 3 jobs and my box office job hours are only 10 a week. It's enough to get by, but not by much. I'd really like a real FULL TIME job and to work Rockababy and Fossil part time. Or something. That'd be great.

This past week I went to the open call auditions for NYMF only because Michael Cassara and the people in his casting office are very, very nice and decided to let non-equity actors have an online sign up for appointments. APPOINTMENTS FOR NON-EQUITY ACTORS. Had they not had the appointments, people would have probably gotten there at 5am and waited all damn day and had the worst audition ever...... this was better. I wouldn't have even been ABLE to go without this appointment because I worked the whole day: 11am-9pm. But, I had an appointment for 10am, sang a Queen song, and got called back for a show that I would really love to be in. IT ALL WORKED OUT! For now. The hard part (and the part I have no control over) is still to come.

Next week I am doing a staged reading of The Water Dream which actually will have some people who've worked on Broadway (including Ann Harada, the original Christmas Eve in Avenue Q) performing in it, too. That's exciting. It's something, you know? I mean, for me. For them, it's a GIGANTIC deal and for me, it's a logical first step. You have to start somewhere in New York and the logical first step isn't Broadway, it's something small, like a staged reading or showcase. You do that for a while and then, maybe, you get an Off-Broadway show. After years of THAT, you move on to the "real deal".... unless you've grown too old for the characters you'll be playing, in which case, you stop acting and start teaching. *I*, on the other hand, can NEVER be too old for the characters I'm meant to play because *I* am meant to play Ouiser in Steel Magnolias.

So, apparently we got the apartment we wanted. I say apparently because we have not signed a lease yet, but the broker told us "rest assured the apartment is for you and Chris." Everyone gives me the same look when I tell them that. Anyway, we haven't heard from him in a week so we wrote him today asking for a few more specifics. He better respond, otherwise Chris is going to go down there and make him respond, in person (for real... but not in a mean way). We've got stuff to do, you know? Let us sign a lease so we KNOW the stuff is worth doing. It's actually going to be really hard to find the time to move. We're probably going to have to do it at night.... which, considering the weather, might not be the worst thing in the world. Plus, THEN we have to get to Ohio to move our real stuff... which will be a 2 day trip only, sadly. And then... THEN.... we can have a normal life. Normal.... for us. We won't have to live in a box, at least.

Oh yeah, so Chris and I had our four year anniversary (of when we started dating) the other day. I actually forgot the day OF (I remembered the day before and the day after). This is now, officially, the longest relationship either one of us has ever had! Hahaha. I guess we knew when we got married that it was a big deal... but now it's OFFICIALLY a big deal. :)

i'm trying to replace coffee with green tea. it hurts my head.

2010-07-19T12:39:00.003-04:00

I did buy that groupon. It was awesome. We haven't been out in a WHILE and because of the groupon we got 2 entrees, my iced tea and his PBR in a can and a dessert. A DESSERT! And the food was awesome. It was this sports bar/southernish style restaurant called Duke's, nearish to grand central. I loved it. It reminded me of Ohio. Maybe I just loved the fact that we were able to go out... it was loud in there (we were there during the All-Star Game).... but the food really was good. Good and horrible for you.

Earlier that evening we went to see 2 more apartments. The apartment we put down the deposit for fell through because the landlord wanted people to move in before August 1st. So, we saw 2 more, one being the biggest apartment we've seen yet (in the same building as the last one) and another that was halfway between the Ditmars stop and Astoria Park, which is pretty much exactly where I wanted to live in the first place. It's in a more residential area, in a house rather than building, and although it was the 3rd smallest of the 4 apartments we saw with this guy, it'd still be big enough for US. As long as I can fit a chair in the bedroom, I'll be happy. Plus there was a dining room, which was nice. I haven't seen one of those in a NYC apartment yet. So, we told him we'd like to apply for THAT one. The people are moving out at the end of the month so I suppose as long as that STILL HAPPENS, we should get it. God, I hope so. In the broker world, we have TONS of time left.... but in MY world we're seriously pushing it to the limit with finding a place. I think about it constantly.

On the weekends the train service is cut (even less on Sundays, as if people don't ride) and the last couple of weekends it has taken me an hour to get home because of this. This is basically what will happen: the 7 train will arrive no problem and I'll get to queensboro plaza to transfer to an N train. I will wait 20 minutes for an N and then one will show up SO CROWDED that you know the train is going to go express, bypassing my stop, which it does, so I have to wait for the next train. Which, yesterday, took ANOTHER 15 minutes to arrive. On a weekday it takes me about 25 minutes (walking from the station to work included), sometimes if I am very lucky, it takes FIFTEEN MINUTES of train time. I was honestly afraid there was going to be a riot last night. People were so angry that the train went express. I was afraid they were going to push and shove to get the hundreds of people waiting on the platform onto the train when it finally arrived. Luckily that didn't happen. It was still bad, though.

I have surmised that we got enough people signed up for our Rockababy class in the summer for the class to continue, which is a RELIEF! It's always very tense for me at the beginning of a session because NO ONE signs up at first, they're all just drop-ins. We have to be AMAZING the first class to get them to want to sign up. And it's not like it's CHEAP. Well, maybe it is... to people with money.... but you know. *I* couldn't afford it. Anyway, I love doing the classes so much that if we had to stop for a session I would be DEPRESSED. I don't want that.

I had 2 auditions in 2 hours last Wednesday. It was kind of nice. It was hot, though... and the first was in CHINATOWN, which was just... kind of creeeeepy. I'm not a big fan of Chinatown, alone, in a dress, when I don't know where I'm going. I was going to sing "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen but the pianist wasn't very good, so luckily I had a back up plan. Even though the audition went well, I did not get cast. Story of my life. It was a company, though... and it was a company that was started by GIRLS, so they might have already cast all the female roles. That's what I'll assume, anyway. Plus, girls my height, size and voice type are a dime a dozen. The only thing I have going for me to stand out is that I'm MORE AWESOME, and it's hard to really show that in 1 minute.

We have some really beautiful bags coming to the store for the fall. I literally almost cried when I saw one of them online last night. It was so beautiful. Oh, also, I went to Anthropologie for the first time on Saturday. I spent about an hour there. I, of course, didn't buy anything, but now I don't want to buy anything from anywhere else. I text my friend Mitzy the message, "This is like disney world for MY KIND." You better believe when we have our own apartment, I am going to replace every single doorknob and handle with new ones from anthropologie. There are gonna be birds and butterflies on everything I own.

groupon rules

2010-07-12T12:17:00.003-04:00

So, apparently LeBron didn't read my letter. Oh well. My dad said, "He wanted to have a party instead." I think that was the most surprising thing. I didn't think he was that kind of person. The Super Team thing will never work... they NEVER DO... so he really is just going to have a big party. I suppose he's 25, never went to college and has had a lot of responsibility placed on him to be something special, so I assume his desire to have a party is pretty high... I just guess no one expected it to affect his decision.

What I do think is FUNNY, though, is how NYC and Chicago are all acting like THEY are the ones who have been so scorned by LeBron James. My dad also pointed out that they did make sure their teams totally sucked for the last couple of years so that they could afford him, which I didn't know (I knew they sucked but I didn't know they sucked for a REASON), but still. Most people in the world who cared wanted him to stay with Cleveland, even most New Yorkers I talked to. And now NYC, Chicago and Cleveland totally hate him and no one in Miami even cares because they're too busy being high and sitting on the beach. This is like the state champ winning high school football star passing up a full ride scholarship to the great school nearby to pay tons of money to go to the party school on the beach. Actually, it's exactly like that. This IS that. I just hope he doesn't abandon his girlfriend, too.

So, in other news, we put a deposit down on one of the apartments we saw the other night and we're just waiting to hear from the broker. I think Chris forgot to charge his phone so we might be waiting until much later today when he actually gets a chance to turn it on. I hope we get it. If we don't, I hope we get something even better. Today I thought our apartment was on fire but it was just some guy grilling in the alley between the buildings. I'm 98% sure the smoke detector in this apartment is not working so since I ALSO heard a fire truck at the same time I smelled smoke, I freaked out a little. I'm really glad the building wasn't on fire. Besides the lack of smoke detector, there's also no fire escape!

I babysat Spencer, Megan and Joe's son, the other night. Chris was there too, but since he didn't change his diaper, I don't really consider his contribution part of the babysitting. He was so funny! Spencer is going to be 2 in October. He doesn't have a very big vocabulary but he did manage to communicate with us pretty well. He seemed to understand a lot more than what he could actually say. I was winking at him and he thought it was hilarious and then tried to wink back. This was unsuccessful but awesome. He even pulled his one eyelid down with his finger at one point. He went to sleep REALLY easily; I literally put him in his PJs , put him in the crib and he immediately was sleeping... but then he woke up an hour later, cried for 45 minutes (there was nothing I could do for him, he wanted his parents) and then was too tired to cry anymore, so he fell asleep again. Then we watched LOST until they got back.

I've been very scared because of this article. It's too much for me to handle.

I'm currently trying to decide whether or not to buy a groupon for $20 worth of food for $10. I think, with iced tea at $3 each, we'd still spend about $10 more for drinks and tip which is really just $20 TOTAL, which is not bad anywhere. That's two burritos and 2 drinks from Chipotle. It's probably worth it, right? Plus, we'd get to go somewhere we've never been before and have food that we didn't get from the deli at the grocery store. Live a little. While we still can!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!

I actually can't wait to go to work tonight because we got a bunch of new stuff from the early-fall/late-summer line and I LOVE IT when we get new stuff. I'm always "Ooooooooooh"-ing and "Ahhhhhhh"-ing for like 10 minutes after I walk in the door. It's great. What is also great is my effing self control. I have my $50 that I won to use at the store just sitting in a drawer... waiting for the right bag to come along someday.... the perfect storm.

a letter to LeBron

2010-07-07T23:19:00.003-04:00

Hey LeBron,

Thanks for coming here, today. I really appreciate it. Just doing my part, you know. I mean, frankly, I haven't been this anxious about something in a long time.

You and I are not so dissimilar. I'm only a few years older than you and we're both from Akron. I mean, who knows, maybe we passed each other in the mall one day. Or perhaps we were on the same car of the Magnun at Cedar Point. Remember 1997? What a horrible year. I had just become a baseball fan. For some reason the strike prompted me to start liking baseball. I had gone to a few games that year. I've never witnessed an Indians defeat in person... but I sure have over the TV. I don't need to remind you of what happened that year... and even though you grew up liking teams that actually WON, too (like the Yankees), I'm sure you were indescribably disappointed.

Because you're from Ohio. And we don't have much.

And the worst thing is that lately, the only thing we HAVE had is you.

That's a lot to put on one person's shoulders, I know. But look at you! You're the biggest star in the world right now. No one cares about anyone else in basketball besides you. Some might say no one cares about anyone else in sports. And to some, they might not care about anyone else in the entire world. When you think about it that way, being the only thing holding the city of Cleveland together is hardly a hindrance at all.

You've been discouraged the last couple of seasons. I can see that. You tried really hard while the rest of the team apparently forgot how to play basketball. You had all the pieces together and for whatever reason, it just didn't work. Surely a situation like that couldn't happen in Miami. Take a look at the film America's Sweethearts. It was a all-star, totally lovable cast. And it sucked. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

Chicago? Please. No matter what, you'd always be in Michael Jordan's shadow because he has the biggest ego EVER. Even if you won every single game for 5 years, you'd still be compared to him. You don't want comparisons.... you want to be the top.

I can tell you from experience that New York isn't all it's cracked up to be. People smoke pot in the middle of the sidewalk. It's hot as BALLS here (not basketballs). There are so many tourists all over the place. Plus, they're acting as if you don't already have major deals with Nike and any other company in the world that you make millions from. You'd make billions of dollars no matter where you are. You're just that good and just that marketable. But in New York, you're one of MANY "just THAT good" players... whether it be baseball, basketball or football. You'd get lost in the crowd.... literally and figuratively.

I don't even feel like New Jersey needs to be talked about. You're a man, you can pump your own gas if you want to, right?? Not in New Jersey. They don't give you a CHOICE.

And a choice is exactly what you're making. You can choose to be compared to Jordan or the myriad of great sports players in NYC. You can choose to form a Super Team in Miami where everyone is so high on coke that they can't POSSIBLY succeed. You can choose to destroy your home town. To say to the unemployed fans who have followed you since you were in high school, "thanks, but even though I'd make more money here and bring in about $20 million annually to Cleveland, and if I leave, the massive unemployment will become even worse and you'll literally have no economy left in the state, I'm gonna bounce. (Get it?)"

Here's the thing, LeBron. If you stay in Cleveland, you're a hero. We don't have ANYONE to compare you to. We have literally nothing else going for us except you. You are everything to Cleveland. There is NOWHERE ELSE YOU CAN GO where that is true.

And you're having an hour-long tv special to tell us your news. Don't even try to tell me that you don't want to be the god of sports.

If you want to win, you can win. We've seen it happen. You just have to want it bad enough. Cleveland isn't cursed unless we lose you. No one will ever love you more than Cleveland.

But remember: Hell hath no fury like a Clevelander scorned.

See ya at Swensons,

Alisa

puddle of sweat on the pulaski bridge

2010-07-06T21:19:00.004-04:00

Right now it is 101 degrees, feels like 104 (according to weather.com). It is apparently the hottest day in NYC since 2001! Yowza. I'm sitting inside right now, but Chris and I are venturing out to look at an apartment after work which we will arrive at completely sweaty. We will look impressive.

The apartment I saw the other day that was perfect fell through.The day we were going to meet with the broker to give a deposit and fill out the application the landlord contacted her and told her it was off the market. We don't know what happened. The people already living there might have wanted to stay or maybe they had relatives who wanted it.... who knows. We saw an apartment yesterday which would be OKAY.... my biggest problem was that the bedroom would literally only be able to fit a bed. There were several closets, one in the living room that was big enough to fit a dresser, but it seems weird to have your clothes in the living room. Anyway, pending the apartment today, we'll probably apply. It's the same Avenue that we're on now, and about the same distance from the train, just in the opposite direction. The apartment we're looking at today is in.... BROOKLYN. Although barely. In fact, it's so barely in Brooklyn that I would walk across the bridge back into Queens to get on the subway (which is only half a mile). That's actually closer to the subway than the apartment that was perfect. So, we'll see.

I can't believe it's already the 6th of July. We had a pretty great 4th of July. I had to work until 3pm but then we went to KFC (it's a tradition, now) and to the Intrepid to watch the fireworks.

There were probably... god...I dunno... several hundred thousand people on 12th avenue. It was craaaaaazy! Since we were allowed on the ship's property, we didn't have to worry about all the crap until we were trying to get home that night. It took a long time. We walked a mile and a half to the subway station which took forever because we had to wind through so many people. Plus, it was hot. We had to wait in the station for half an hour and then the train was totally packed, even in the last car. But, it was a GREAT show and we had a perfect view and the long walk let us walk off the chicken.

I can't imagine eating anything other than cereal, turkey sandwiches and iced things, now. It's too hot.

I started this post at about 3pm at work and now I'm finishing it at 9:30pm. We went to that apartment. The walk wasn't too bad on the way there but the apartment was a BIG let down. Apparently in Brooklyn "1 bedroom" doesn't actually MEAN 1 bedroom. Perhaps it was the disappointment, but the walk back seemed longer... and WAY HOTTER. When we got back to the train we were literally dripping with sweat. It was ridiculous. However, we took cold showers to cool off and then, after looking online briefly, we went out to 2 more apartments, this time using our HEADS and staying in Astoria. They were both nice and within our price range, plus we liked the broker. One was literally right next to the train.... but we didn't really hear it when it passed. I'm sure that could change... but that's what my constant white noise is for!

I just can't wait until we have our own apartment. It will be so wonderful to have a real life again.

crazy good

2010-06-24T21:19:00.002-04:00

It's crazy hot today. I was going to go to the beach because--surprise!!!!--Chris and I both had off on the SAME DAY, but last night he came down with a fever somehow and obviously sitting out in the 95 degree temperature, in direct sunlight, on the dirty beach would have been a bad idea. I have no idea what happened to him! I met him after rockababy for dinner (at McDonald's because we are all class) and he was GREAT! In the middle of his 2nd show he started getting chills and when he got home he was a mess. The fever broke this morning and he started to sweat it off once I gave him some Tylenol. He was kind of delirious last night... he was talking to himself... it was crazy. I hate to say it but Sick Chris is the WORST. He'll moan the entire night and thrash all over. It's hard. But, anyway, it was better of us to say in the air conditioning all day than go to the beach. Maybe another time.

As Rene said, it's getting to the time of the year when it's too hot to eat. This always happens to me. I just can't imagine eating anything because it's too darn hot. Today I had cereal, a bagel sandwich and more cereal. For dinner. Of course, not wanting to eat creates other challenges... like the challenge of being able to walk down the street without getting dizzy. I don't want to be one of those people who passes out in the subway (the platforms are ALWAYS killer hot). Today I had to stop in to the Duane Reade for 15 minutes just to cool down. I bought some water and all was well. Dehydration + no food + 90 degrees = Alisa falling face first onto the sidewalk.

So, today I went to view another apartment and it was AMAZING. It was only $50 more than the first one but it was soooo much bigger and it has TONS of light and a window facing Manhattan where you can see the whole damn city! WHHHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTT?? It's a 1 bedroom. I hope so much that we get it. Oh my God. I would lose my mind. They are renovating the kitchen during July and we'd move in on August 1st. It's a 5th floor walk up but that just means it comes with it's own workout. Well, that also means that it'd be a BITCH to get our stuff into and anyone who would help us move would hate us... but I helped Broadway John move out of his at LEAST 5th floor apartment and it was just me and him and it was fine and only took like an hour. And it may not have been August that day, but it was still hot.

Please help us move. Even if we live in a 5th floor walk up. I promise you won't regret it. Somehow.

Yesterday I was trying to figure out the name of a song and my friend Len said it could be this guy Mika.... and it wasn't, but I was listening to this album and suddenly I just screamed "Who IS this guy!?!?!?!?!?!?" How insanely talented can one person be??? It's mind boggling and it's making me insane. He's like a Freddy Mercury-Adam Lambert-Michael Jackson mix.... and then some of his songs sound remarkably like the Beatles. I lost it for a while. Crazy good.

Speaking of crazy good, Radiohead will hopefully (probably?) be putting out their next album this year. So much hoooooorrrraaaaayyyy.

My PJ romper arrived from the Gap yesterday. I got 30% off the already low $12 sale price. It is everything I hoped it would be and more. Do not expect me to wear anything else until winter. And even then I'll wear it if the heat is up too high.

Of all my Pandora playlists, my favorites are the Stevie Wonder and "Play That Funky Music" playlists. The Duran Duran list is also excellent.... but once in a while I can't handle whatever Depeche Mode throws my way. Stevie's never disappoints.

On Monday at work I dubbed it, "Monday FUNDAY." My great attitude lasted for a couple of hours until I realized I was not going to make my sales goal... and then I was sad. The next day I dubbed "Monday FUNDAY... part TUESday" (get it???). Monday Funday part Tuesday WAS a great day... especially because I won a drawing for $50. YAY!

i feel like a dog in boots

2010-06-17T12:10:00.004-04:00

I forget how old I am sometimes. I know that seems like a REALLY old person thing to do but whenever I think of my age I'm like, "Wait. Am I 27 or am I 28?" This started happening last year. I remember telling someone during Oliver rehearsals that I was 27 when I was 26. It took me like 5 minutes to realize I was wrong and then I couldn't BELIEVE I would age myself. I should start telling people I'm 25... and maybe then just not correcting myself.

I don't know what happened to all the people who are my age. They're all missing and I can't find them. Are they all in grad school? Did they get "real people" jobs? Roussos is the only person I see at auditions and I don't even go to that many auditions. Everyone I work with is either older or younger than me. WHERE ARE ALL THE 27 YEAR OLDS????

During winter I used to see this cocker spaniel mix whose owner put him in boots because there was so much snow. It was always adorable and hilarious to watch him walk because it was SO awkward. I am breaking in sandals for the first time today and I felt just like that dog. I felt like I was learning how to walk for the first time. They FEEL like flip flops but since they're not, and they have a strap in the back, it was too much for me to handle. They're very flat. I have a pair that are the same shape except a different color and a small heel and I didn't need to relearn how to walk to wear those. They also don't feeeeel like flip flops. This is weird. They're cute, though.

Listen. I really love Regina Spektor. She is so talented. I want to make a Neko Case/Regina Spektor/Ingrid Michaelson/the Police cover band.

Oh! So, that apartment. It was cute! It was an okay size but for 2 people in a studio.... I just don't know if it's worth paying $1150 a month (I know that sounds crazy anywhere else in the world, too). I know we can find studios for cheaper than that and 1 bedrooms for $1200 or less, so I THINK we're going to keep looking. If it was just me, and I made enough money to pay $1150 and live alone, it'd be great. For BOTH of us... I just don't know. The tipping point was when I was trying to think of the layout, and I had it worked out and then I thought, "WHAT ABOUT A CHRISTMAS TREE!?!?!??!" We might be able to do it, though. I think Chris is going to see it tonight. We'll see what he thinks.

Speaking of Chris, this morning I nicknamed him "Ant Farm." It sounds like a newspaper comic character from the early 1960s, doesn't it? After I called him Ant Farm a couple of times I said, "I think I'm still asleep!"

2010-06-15T11:00:00.002-04:00

There are two parts to me right now. The part that is disappointed in herself for switching her schedule so she could go to an audition this morning and yet... she didn't go, and then there's the part that worked almost 36 hours in the last 3 days on her feet and was so tired and in such foot and lower back pain that she's GLAD she got to sleep.

I hate that. I guess, in reality, if I had gone, it would have been too much trouble anyway if I would have booked it... I wouldn't be able to break even with the money I am making now (which is NOT a lot), which means I couldn't afford my rent while gone and then I'd have to find new jobs and it probably wouldn't be worth it for 2 months.... sigh. I hate the theatre. It's such a stupid, stupid career.

Ugh. Anyway, yes, I worked almost 36 hours from Saturday- Monday. It wasn't AS bad as it sounds, but it was pretty bad. I was really tired all of the time. And my back hurts a lot and the balls of my feet hurt from wearing these sandals all weekend. I knew yesterday, when I woke up at 7-something am, that it was going to be next to impossible for me to get up today. I still prepared last night, though. I was basically ready... but when my alarm went off at 5:30am all my damn mind could think about was how it wasn't worth it. I just imagined myself getting there at 7:30am, waiting in a stupid line forever, finally getting called in to sing and then they'd say "Thanks for coming in, Alyssa" and I'd leave. Yes, there's a possibility that it WOULDN'T happen like that, but most likely it would and apparently I did not want this particular job enough to deal with the regret I'd feel for getting up in the first place if it did.

The vampires have gotten to me!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris is sick. I was sick 2 weeks ago or something so I guess he didn't catch it from me.... or it sat dormant in his system for a while. He's been working all the time, too. He likes his job at the Intrepid museum a lot which is good. He's also got a part time job which he doesn't really love and Othello until the end of the month so at least we're not home together. We got off work at about the same time last night so we met up on the subway platform at 42nd st just to spend a little more time together. I wish we could do real things together, too.

I laughed the entire time I was ushering last night. It was a lot of fun. I took tickets just so I could hang out with Lyndsey and Scott during this 3 hour long piano recital and it was totally the best decision of the night. We made a vocal mariachi band, we watched Judi Dench sing "Send in the Clowns" on my blackberry, I told them about the time I spoke gibberish in Guys and Dolls, Scott did an impression of an imaginary angry patron filling out the wine comment card.... I realize none of this is funny to anyone else, but maybe when I reread my blog again in a couple of years I'll remember it and laugh.

Tonight I am going to view an apartment! I am excited. I hope I love it and we get approved and are able to move in right away on August first because I am living in a DREAM WORLD. Most likely I'll hate it. Or we won't get approved. Or we will and someone else will just get the apartment. Oh my God, I just looked on google maps and it is literally right next to the gigantic amtrak line. Unless the apartment is on the other side of the building it'd be really dark. I guess I'll find out tonight!

I don't understand how a percolator works. Does anyone know? (Someone must. A scientist.)

i live in my bed

2010-06-08T14:33:00.002-04:00

Has anyone else ever had their shower pouf completely unravel on them in the shower? I felt like I was washing my body with seaweed. It still worked, though.

So, on Sunday I literally worked the entire day (8am-1pm at one place, 1:30-10pm with a one hour lunch in the middle) and I was SO TIRED. I found out the 1 train wasn't running so I took the bus from 5th Ave. to the UWS. It was surprisingly quick.... and I was mainly just glad I KNEW the 1 train was suspended and hadn't been waiting for it forever. When I got to the concert hall there was a street fair happening right outside and it made me so angry. I was like "I hope it starts to HAIL because it's not FAIR to have a street fair outside if you can't go to it. It's a street UNfair!!" Then, when it didn't rain, and we went on our lunch break I was all, "That street fair BETTER STILL BE GOING ON!! I need some grilled corn!" It was still going on... just finishing up, but still there... and I did, indeed, get my corn. I also got 1 deep fried oreo because I really wanted to try it. It was fine. Other than that, as I've said before, if you've been to one street fair, you've been to all of them, but when you've got a 14 hour day, it's a little hard to deal with it right outside.

Yesterday I worked all day, too, but today I don't work until 6:30. I stayed in bed for hours. I wasn't sleeping, I was just snuggling up under the covers. I wish we had a TV. Soon enough, hopefully. I mean, when we get our own apartment. I kind of wish I did work both jobs today mainly because I feel like I can't leave the house without spending money. I KNOW that it's not true... there's lots to see and do for free... but I'm tired of hanging out ALONE. When I have less than 2 hours between jobs I don't go back home so that's when I usually tend to walk around by myself. It's getting old. I need some friends with nothing to do.

"Roxanne" started playing at work yesterday (it's not on the normal rotation) and I got so excited that I sang and danced to the entire thing. Ah, 5th Ave. There wasn't anyone at the store at the time so it was even better. Anytime the Police play anywhere I tend to go a little nuts. I just love Sting so much.

I watched "Beetlejuice" the other day on Netflix and today I read that Michael Keaton AND Geena Davis have both said they would do a sequel. Michael Keaton said it was the ONE THING he'd like to relive. That would be so awesome. The whole time I was watching it all I could think about was how good that movie still is and how good the ENTIRE CAST is. Michael Keaton is one of the best actors EVER, I'd say.

THIS is my new favorite thing:

relaxi taxi

2010-06-04T21:04:00.002-04:00

I just dropped my popsicle and it rolled down my shirt and onto my keyboard. I guess I never mentioned this (obviously, since I didn't blog from October - April) but around Thanksgiving sometime my tiny computer just... died. I think it had a power surge, actually. I has been watching an episode on SNL, I put the computer down and then it made this weird noise and shut off. It never worked properly again and I was SO SAD. Luckily, I went to the Geek Squad at Best Buy (I mean, it was only a couple of months old) and they just REPLACED IT. FOR FREE. It was the best thing that ever happened to me when something bad also happened. They didn't have my old model so I got a new one, which is slightly bigger, but thinner and awesomer. I don't have a cool sticker for it yet, though....

A couple weeks ago Elizabeth and the Catapult played at the concert hall I work at. A couple days before I had been convinced by their publicity photo to investigate their music and they were so good I downloaded their album. And then I got to see them for free. It was great. Normally the hall I work at has classical music performances but once in a very great while they'll have something contemporary (that is NOT crap) and that's what this was.

For the last week I've only had 1 job a day (and TWO DAYS OFF!!! HOLLAAA!) and it has been so wonderful. I really hate to see it go... but tomorrow I'm back to 2 jobs a day. Forever. I guess it's good. We need to save money for our own apartment.... but I will really miss these days. I spent a lot of time just.... relaxing. Because I could. There will be no time for relaxing on Sunday at ALL!

Last night I went to see the preview of Othello that Chris is in. It was good! It was at Theatre Row which is REALLY nice. He's playing Desdemona's dad. Speaking of Desdemona, isn't she like.... 17 years old? I think *I* am too old to play Desdemona. You know who I love, though? Emilia. I think she's one of the best characters in Shakespeare. I think I'll probably be seeing this play again this year (maybe twice more, if I see Chris's show again) so it will be interesting to see the ASC's version. (Hopefully I will--- we're planning on going to Ginna's wedding and I'm assuming if we have time, we'll try to see the shows.)

I found sprouts at the grocery store and I was SO excited. I've been wanting them forever. I've taken to eating energy bars a lot. Well, Kashi and Luna bars. I figure they're better than a McChicken during my post-lunch blues. I actually like them a lot. The fact that they have some nutritional value is nice, too.

I miss so many people all the time! People who live near me, people who don't live near me... I even miss CHRIS a lot since we're both so busy! I am living so much of my life inside my brain these days that it's a relief to talk to people. I wish I got to see more people.

it's to keep you safe

2010-06-02T22:01:00.004-04:00

I want to go on a night-time walk but I can't do it alone because it's too scary for me. I live in like the safest part of the safest neighborhood in the safest borough and I walk at night all the time, but TONIGHT... it's too scary. BooooooooooooOOOOOOOooooooooo.

I just re-cleaned the kitchen. Sometimes when you* "clean" it it's not ACTUALLY clean. I guess Ellen's subletter is coming tomorrow. I can't remember her name but I hope she doesn't write lipstick messages to herself in the bathroom mirror like this one subletter in California. I can't remember THAT girl's name, either. Do you know that Chris and I have been subletting since October? We're scheduled to move out on August 1st. I am really excited to get our own place (again). There are TWO of us subletting a room with THREE PEOPLE'S STUFF IN IT! If this other stuff were not here, we'd be SO much happier. I think we would have actually been able to bring our couch. This room isn't HUGE but it would have been big enough for a couch or at LEAST a chair. I want you to know that I have spent the last, like, 8 months or whatever ONLY sitting on my bed or the floor. To eat, to write, you name it. Chris brought a folding chair and tiny folding table but now that folding table has the fan on it. Ok, listen. Once in a while I'll sit in the kitchen. Only once in a while, though, because Chris and I are very private at home and we don't like to get in the way or bother people.

Thankfully, the one thing we DO have in our little room is an air conditioner (thanks, ENTIRELY, to my sister) because dear god did we need it. Early in April it was 94 degrees one day and like 80 the surrounding days. It was so hot in here I can't even begin to explain it. If we had no room and it was 90 degrees IN the room, we'd be so angry and miserable. Luckily, we are the one cool place in what might be mistaken for Hell.

But, like I said, we are really looking forward to getting our own apartment and I really hope we have enough money for it because... if we don't.... well... I don't know what will happen. I am hoping to move up to Ditmars Ave because it's just 2 train stops away but it's the LAST train stop, which means that the train would always be waiting in the station and you'd never be left wondering where it was. ALSO, it's really, really close to the park. ALSO AGAIN, there is a grocery store AND A STARBUCKS RIGHT OUTSIDE THE TRAIN STATION. It's like.... the best place ever. Other options include:

30th Ave. Where we already live
Broadway (in Astoria)
Astoria Blvd
Long Island City
Sunnyside
Inwood

Yes, Inwood/Washington Heights is the furthest down on the list of places I'd want us to move but would actually kind of enjoy living in (otherwise known as "places we can afford to live"). I don't know why all the Kent kids want to live in Washington Heights. It is SO FAR away from everything (except the BRONX)! Yes, Jessica and Beth have a beautiful apartment in a great neighborhood, but I'd still rather live in Astoria. Even though I HATE the N train, it's still the best train. Plus, the subways run above ground here and it's wonderful! You don't feel like a mole person all of the time. No part of me wants to live in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a place you visit.... you don't live there. Unless you live in Brooklyn Heights (which is amazing) but you have to make a ton of money to live in Brooklyn Heights.

Target has some really cute clothes right now. They're very flowery.

Chris needed me to go buy him some "safety underwear" today. If you don't know, "safety underwear" is underwear you wear UNDERNEATH costume boxers for when you are going to be "pantsed" in a play..... because what if they accidentally (or on purpose) grab the boxers, also? You don't want that. I'm trying not to use plastic bags, like, ever, anymore, so I just put them in my flowery tote bag. Then, when I gave them to him, I did it at 42nd street and 8th Ave and he had to walk all the way back to Theatre Row with a package of underwear in his hands and nothing to conceal it. Hahahahahaha! I don't know why I'm laughing. He wasn't embarrassed and it's not like I did it out of spite.

I am literally working the entire day on Sunday. Literally. 8am - 10:30pm. I am going to get paid for more than half of the 24 hour day on Sunday. It is going to SUCK.

I think all the people in NYC should be required to bring a mini stick of deodorant with them at all times in the summer. It is necessary!

*"you" denotes not me

another blog post!

2010-05-31T20:26:00.002-04:00

Last night for some reason I ended up on Dan Hendrock's extremely short-lived myspace blog from 2006 where he talked about how much he loved all of us from JCS. The end reads,

"To those who have read this. Please know you have all touched me deeply. I love you all. I have never felt this way about a cast. You all make me want to detox my body, not critta, write amazing songs, dance in fields with the car doors open, kill you in traps, run to quick changes faster. My heart is severed, I feel. But this is NOT goodbye. OH no. I can't let myself be that person. If it feels this good to have you. I won't let you go.
JCS 2006
You all have my heart."

I love Dan! It's funny because I think about that summer so much and there are things that I had written in his comments that I didn't even remember happening. After that, I decided to start reading through MY myspace blog, which I stopped posting on in late 2008, I think. I was so good at blogging. There were times when I laughed out loud at myself. I think it was good because it was so TRUE. I didn't care that all I had to talk about was the weather and whatever was annoying me on any given day. I got as far back as August 2007. I want to start doing it again. It will be much harder to find the time, but I SHOULD, because I really enjoy doing it.

I read this article the other day where some yoga guy said he almost never tells women in their 20s-30s to meditate because "that would be like trying to stop a waterfall." It makes me think of Martha Jane and how she is constantly talking to everyone, and has been (as I re-learned in my blog last night) since she was TWO MONTHS OLD!!!!! Some of us have more to say than others. That's why me and MJ are pals for eternity.

I bought these cookies the other day at this bodega 1. because I wanted cookies 2. because it's Cadbury chocolate and 3. because the name of the cookies is "Luxury Cookies." Every time I eat one it's such a luxurious experience.

This weekend has been pretty easy on me, for once. I don't have to work more than one job a day until Saturday (the last day I did 2 was Tuesday of last week). I got sick last week but I'm mainly feeling better now. I was an hour late to work on Friday because I thought I worked from 3-7 so I kept forcing myself to go back to sleep. I actually worked from 12-5 and found out at 11:30am. I vowed that I wouldn't be late for work again for months, which is a vow I broke TODAY when I was trying to be 20 minutes early but was stuck between stations on the 7 train for 25 minutes. Literally. Sometimes I exaggerate the time... not today. I was panicking. And I was standing next to this little brat kid who kept kicking me in the leg. He was the worst kid ever and his mother kept threatening to do something about it, but never actually doing anything. She also was wearing shorts and had not shaved her legs in at least 6 months, if ever. My trips on the 7 trains usually take less than 10 minutes, today it was 35. When I got to work I was FURIOUS. I felt slightly better when one of my bosses came in right after me--- he had been on the same 7 train I was on (we live in the same neighborhood). I was like, "Thank God! This is a real abili!" Everyone believed me in the first place, though. When I called to say I'd be late I sounded so distressed that they HAD to believe me.

Yesterday was my first day off since our anniversary on the 4th (which was SOOOOO fun). Chris got a fulltime job at the Air and Space Museum and he had to work 12 hours days this weekend because of Fleet Week and Memorial Day, PLUS he's in tech for Othello, so I didn't get to see him (well, I did bring him a sandwich when someone ate his, which he ate in a cab that we rode in together to get to his rehearsal) and I had to come up with things to do on my own. I saw Griffin and Justin on their lunch breaks from work and I went to a flea market AND a street fair, which only took up an hour of my time. The city felt strange because everyone was at the beach. Ave of the Americas was so deserted. We were hella slow at the store today, too. When I got out of work there was another street fair, just one avenue over, so I walked through it a little bit. I got some corn on the cob on a stick (which I wanted to do yesterday but it was too hot) and then I went home. Later I went to the store, bought some Kosher, low fat hotdogs, cooked them on the George Foreman grill and ate them (and some baked Doritos) alone in my room. It sounds depressing. It wasn't really depressing, though.

You know what I wish sometimes? I wish the subway cars were darker. I know why they're NOT... because darkness is dangerous in the big city. But it's so bright that it makes me not want to be in them at night. It's too unnatural. I wish we were closer to the real ocean (not just the river). I mean... SORT OF. I don't want to actually live in Coney Island... but I do wish it took less than an hour to get there. I read that a beach in Southhampton was rated the best beach in the US. REALLY??? Siesta Key was 2nd (we went there on tour)... I feel like I should really check this miracle beach out, now.

I think I am going to eat another Luxurious cookie. I'll blog again soon (not just on the last day of each month).

Did you miss me?

2010-04-30T21:29:00.002-04:00

It's 9:30pm on April 30th (day 1 of my half-birthday; as there is no April 31st, I get TWO half-birthdays) and I haven't blogged in 7 months! I can't say that I missed or did not missed writing because I've been so busy, facebook status updates have generally been able to fill the void. They were (/are) all I really had time to do, mainly because I can do them on the train or at work. Which is, if you're wondering, where I am. Always.

So, you all know I moved to NYC. I had a crazy job for a while and now I have 4 jobs. I have a lot of 12+ hour days.... tomorrow, for example, I start work at 9, have a callback during my lunch break, go back to work until 5, and then work another job from 6-9. My parents keep saying, "It's good to be working and since you're young, you can handle that." I am young (i AM!), however, I also haven't had a day off since April 4th. The last day off I had before that was March 4th. I have May 4th off (it's our anniversary!) and then.... who knows. 12 hours days + no days off = 0.

Most of the time I get home and I cry, "Why is it ALWAYS 9:30!?!?!?" Today I got home by 7pm and it was just... the best. I made dinner. It was shocking.

I stopped drinking milk at like... the beginning of September or something. It really made my skin better. If you're having skin problems, stop drinking milk and after 2 months, see if it's helped. It did for me. Now, though, I am growing increasingly more intolerant of it... even in the form of cheese... and it makes me ever so sad. It's hard to live this way. There's a Mr. Softee literally on every corner and Tastee D-Light's all over not to mention the fact that I LIKE cheese and always liked milk and now I can't eat them. I can only eat bomb pops from an ice cream place (which are $3--- that's an entire BOX at the store) and I don't really like soy milk. But I use it anyway, because I have to, or face the wrath of cow hormones flooding my system. Stupid cows.

So, if you're wondering if I LIKE New York I'd have to say yes and no. There are lots and lots of things that I do not like at all. I don't like that I am faster than every single other person on the street and that the slow people also stop randomly in the middle of the sidewalk or swerve right in front of me, or get off an escalator and just stand at the top and then are surprised when those behind them run into them. I HATE it when people eat on the subway. It's disgusting. If it's like a power bar or something with no smell and no liquid involved it's fine, but anything else is just the worst. The people who drive are all, and yes, I do mean every single one of them, insane. They honk their horns constantly, they don't obey ANY rules of the road... I'm surprised more people don't die. I don't like that no place to eat (except chain restaurants) has free refills on drinks. It's just stupid and petty. Along those same lines, every service person I've encountered in a non-chain restaurant is also a total jerk to everyone.

I DO like walking everywhere and I generally like the subways. I like them more in Queens since they're above ground. When I spend an hour a day or more in a dark tunnel it makes me feel like a mole person. I had a pretty bad case of SADD this winter. I like that I can find as many cookies as I could possibly want all over the place. I like that it's easy to buy organic food/"green" products. I like that, if I had money, there would ALWAYS be something new to do (sadly, this is not the case).

Having said that, I think about moving all of the time. It's just HARD to live here. Financially, weather-ly.... I don't know where I'd want to go but I just don't feel like THIS is my ideal location. Especially since the World of Disney closed. I do like the mass transportation, though. A lot.

One of the jobs I'm doing is this baby music class called Rockababy. It is so much fun you wouldn't believe it. We have the main set that we do all the time and each week there is a new theme (for example, last week was "Garden") which has related cover songs that we perform (like "I Heard it Through the Grapevine"). There is a story, dancing, rubber balls, instruments for the babies and, of course, bubble time. It's the best. I looooove doing it. My other jobs are not as fulfilling artistically or in my cute-o-meter, but one of them is at Fossil, which I also am really enjoying. I'm just a really big fan of the company and the products, so it makes it easy to want to sell them.

Chris and I are very happy with each other. This whole "marriage" thing has been great. We're poor as all get out (does anyone know what that phrase actually means?) and I don't get to see him as often as I'd like because of my 4 jobs, but even when the entire day sucks, it's always like, "well at least YOU are here to make me happy." It's funny to think it's already been a year since the wedding because it seems like it was just yesterday and forever ago, at the same time. I have some friends on their honeymoon in Disney World right now.... I am so jealous. Happy for them..... but so jealous. We're going to the Natural History Museum on our anniversary. I am also hoping Magnolia will be serving some red velvet cake that day.

Last but not least, I watched the entire series of Lost (thus far) over the span of 2 months, and I am really, really excited for each episode. I also watched the entire series of The Office (again, thus far, obviously), and it is the best.

Will I write again??? WHO KNOWS!!!

there's a whole paragraph about Chipotle

2009-09-08T13:48:00.003-04:00

My last day is going to be September 24th. I am excited! I suppose I will move that weekend. It's going to be scary. Where will I park the car? How will I move the gigantic bin by myself? The whole thing is so scary. I am really nervous but also really excited. I am going to be a struggling actor. What a stupid thing to be excited about.

Chris and I both got our headshots reproduced and received them last week! This is Chris's first headshot since, like, 2000. I am going to the fall SETC auditions next Monday which I was more excited about when I registered for them. We both registered for UPTAs in February already (and thank God we did because 2 of the 3 days are already full!) so hopefully we'll be able to actually go to them. I hope so. The registration fee is non-refundable. I really want Chris to be on Broadway. I want to be on Broadway, too, but I think that his chances RIGHT NOW of being on Broadway are a lot better than mine. My type is a dime a dozen. His type is leaving the business for a more secure life, opening up things for those who are not leaving the business. Hahaha, no THANKS, secure life! We'll take our date nights at McDonald's and pasta every night for dinner life, thank you very much!

I gave blood on Saturday. I was scared. I haven't given blood since 2000. I was secretly hoping my iron would be too low... but it wasn't. Everything was normal and my blood pressure was GREAT! I have good veins. They got the needle right in. My blood did stop flowing for a little while, but it got going again. The nurse wrapped my arm in a pretty blue bandage with a purple bandage bow stuck on. PLUS, they gave me a bottle of water, oreos, a t-shirt and a $5 gift card to Qdoba! I used it yesterday. I was sitting in the Qdoba eating my almost-free food and I looked out the window.... and saw that they had built a new Chipotle in Harrisonburg. 9 times out of 10 I would chose Chipotle over Qdoba (the 1 time I wouldn't is when I had a gift card to Qdoba) but that's not the point. The point is that they built the Chipotle NOW. Harrisonburg isn't close. It's about 25 minutes away... but before, the only Chipotle was in Charlottesville, which is 45-50 minutes away. I think I've been 5 times in the 2 years I've lived here and a month of that time was spent living within walking distance of said Chipotle. Now, I know that as soon as I get to NYC there will be more Chipotles than I know what to do with, but my life has been seriously lacking in Chipotle the last 2 years. I used to go once a week!

We are starting to pack stuff and also throw stuff away. This move is getting serious.

I don't even need a bumpit

2009-08-28T12:24:00.004-04:00

I am growing my bangs out and therefore have been pulling them back every day to keep them out of my face and eyes. A couple of weeks ago Christina bought those "Bumpits" to play with and she didn't want them, so she gave them to me and then I gave them to the costume shop. Most of them, anyway... not the LITTLE bumpit. I kept that one for me! I haven't actually used it, though. My bangs have not needed the help of the bumpit. The girls in the res troupe are obsessed with the Bumpits. Alli has been dreaming about them. I should probably give them the little one since my hair has enough volume without the bumpit.

This morning I watched a 6 month old baby for an hour and at 3 I am going to watch the Harrell kids for a while, too. I am hoping it doesn't rain so that we can go to the park. I was holding baby Imogen this morning and now I have baby shoulder. I don't know how parents do it. I know I'm gonna be exhausted if we do go to the park because of that heavy, heavy stroller.

Yesterday I had a HORRIBLE day. Well, technically the horribleness started the night before when Ellen called to tell me they lost the apartment they were getting (more on that below). For some reason when UPS came to deliver a package, they didn't ring the doorbell with a signature required so we missed them (this was the least bad thing to happen but it was still irritating). When I got to work I had to do bars for two events, both of which made me crazy, one of which was for 12-18 year old girls who wanted to complain about everything and steal things from the gift shop. The trash people didn't pick up our recycling from the theatre which I had to take up the hill the night before, so I had to take it back down. Taking it back down the hill is really, really hard. I broke like 7 bottles all over the place. None of these things sounds THAT bad, but when they're all together, it was just a bad day. The bad day ended, however, when Ellen called me BACK to tell me they got another apartment.

SO! Here's the "more on that." In about a month I am going to be moving to New York and subletting for Ellen's roommate who is going on tour with Avenue Q. She is going to be gone until the end of June, so Chris is going to be joining me in December and hopefully that will give us enough time to get employment history in the city and find our own place. We are very excited. I hope we find jobs and can get our own apartment eventually. Otherwise... uh... hopefully there is no "otherwise."

Project Runway is back, thank God. Although I kind of wanted that Ari girl last week to stay (just to see what she'd come up with THIS week), I did want that Malvin guy to go home this week. Well, I am NO FAN of that Mitchell, but that Malvin.... what to say about him. I think it's still too early to say who I really like, although I think I know who I do not like.

adventures in Tellydog

2009-08-20T09:36:00.002-04:00

Our weekend is Monday and Tuesday and this last weekend we went to scenic DELAWARE!!! Don't laugh, because Delaware rules. At least the part I went to does. We left with our friend James on Sunday night and stayed with him up there (he and his wife live there and he goes back on Mondays to teach classes and, you know, see her). He even let us use his car! On Monday we had a nice breakfast with Anne and Keegs where they had bought us coffee (decaf and regular, because THAT'S HOW NICE THEY ARE!) and bagels and then we went to Rehoboth Beach for a little while. Even though it was a Monday, this beach was still pretty crowded so we didn't stay there too long. We did eat lunch at this place where everything was only $5. There is also, apparently, no food tax in Delaware. After that we went to some of the outlet malls, none of which were very outlet-y (but I did get 3 headbands) then we found the state park (where we'd be going the next day) and then we went back to their house. Anne and Keegs cooked us steaks and chicken, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and some really great bread on their amazing grill and then we sat in a food stupor until bedtime.

So, on Tuesday I slept in a little bit and then we made our way to Cape Henlopen State Park to go to that beach... and it was the greatest beach in the world! First of all, the second we got into the beach part, the woman in front of us says, "oh my gosh! look at all the dolphins!" Sure enough, there were dolphins everywhere and they stayed there for about 2 hours. We took some pictures but I don't know if the dolphins will actually be IN the pictures because of the camera delay. I didn't even know dolphins swam that far north! Apparently they do and they play and jump out of the water and are generally super entertaining. I went to get some water from the snack shop and when I came back they were REALLY close. It was so cool. We did get in the ocean a little bit after Chris went on a walk. Rehoboth beach was really rocky but this beach wasn't too bad and the water was really quite temperate (even though when you first felt it, it felt freezing). Plus, you know, dolphins. We got there at about 1pm and stayed until a little after 4. I have some sunburn on my back but I've had worse. I tried to read Shakesfear and How to Cure it on the beach while Chris was gone. I've read it before but I was looking for something specific. I felt nerdy in a bikini.

After that great time at the beach we went home, showered and then Keegs gave us a gift card to this restaurant, which we of course used. It was a seafood restaurant but luckily they had a cheeseburger on the menu. I should just force myself to eat some fish. I just can't decide whether it's good or bad for you. Mercury poisoning vs omega-3. It's like milk... no one knows the answer to the question: is this good or bad for you? Anyway, a cheeseburger is NOT good for you, but I ate it and I'm not ashamed. I also ate a LOT of bread while I was in Delaware. After the restaurant we went back to Rehoboth to walk around the boardwalk. We didn't go on any rides because it was so crowded I couldn't even figure out where the lines began but they looked less cheap than other crappy carnival rides. We got some ice cream and then we went back home. Oh, we also went to a place called the Sea Shell Shop, which is a ridiculous tourist crap store, because I was so in love with Delaware by this point. I even gave it a cool nickname: Tellydog.

Yesterday we left at 6:30am which is EARLY for this lady. Maybe it's early for anyone. It's about a 5 hour drive so we got back here at 11. I then babysat the Harrell kids for a little while and then I took a 20 minute nap before work. I was very sleepy. I am still very sleepy.

We've been pretty busy at work lately. I try to update this between phone calls and people coming in so the average post takes about 2 hours to write. Summer is a weird time here. There's less people coming to see the shows (compared to the ren season in winter) but more people coming in for tours and asking to peak at the theatre (answer: no). Our summer season is really long so it's probably actually the same amount of people coming, just more spread out across the 6 months.

I just found out my friend Josh is totally a hero. Some girl got mugged in town a couple months ago and he totally chased the guy down the street and into a house. The guy had a GUN! I guess he didn't know the guy had a gun when he started chasing him. But he still did it! I'm not surprised. Josh is great. And now he's a hero. It makes me want to cry.

... and NOW it's just time travel

2009-08-11T09:45:00.004-04:00

So, in other news, last night I wrote a note that said, "Hello from the past! If you're reading this note and time travel is possible in the world you live in, please come visit us. We just baked chocolate chip cookies and we're willing to share as long as you don't hurt us or something." and put it inside a big book. I asked them to come at 12:30am last night... but no one showed. So, either the book or note became lost in the future or time travel isn't possible. OR, maybe they DID come and I just couldn't see them. I heard somewhere (and by "heard somewhere" I mean saw it in that movie, What the Bleep Do We Know?) that the way our brain is wired we can only see things that we believe are possible. So maybe I didn't REALLY BELIEVE that anyone from the future would would come here. I'm sure our landlord would have been angry if they did, anyway. (Yes, I did steal this idea from the Time Traveler Convention held in 2005. Yes, maybe I should have learned that it wasn't possible after no one showed up to their party. HOWEVER, Chris and I are a lot more low key. We wouldn't bombard them with questions. Well, maybe we would, but it would be less damning. Plus... free cookies.)

I wish time travel WAS possible. I would have asked the guy/girl to go back to May 2008 and told us we definitely did NOT want to live in the apartment we're living in. That's all I would ask. I wonder where we would have lived in this alternate universe.... somewhere mysterious.

2009-08-09T11:28:00.004-04:00

The AC in the theatre is working overtime right now because there are approximately 150 people in the lobby. Maybe more. This is probably illegal, actually. I am pretty sure that a fire code is being violated. Our lobby should NOT hold this many people. It comfortably holds, like, 50. They are all waiting to go in to see the young company theatre camp shows which start at noon (introductions start at 11:30?). Some of the people have been here almost an hour already. One guy apparently STOLE a chair for the hotel next door and was sitting in it in front of the theatre. He, of course, didn't put it back when he was done so it was just sitting out there. One of the people who work in the main office came over here at some point and was like, "Why is there a chair from the Stonewall Jackson hotel out front?" I could give her no answer. I'm not allowed to leave my little station without someone guarding it (not like I could have physically left anyway--- there were too many people in here) so that chair would have stayed there for quite a while if she wouldn't have moved it.

Ok, everyone was finally let in. WHEW. It's going to be 100 degrees today and I was sitting here shivering because I'm right next to the AC vents. Since I am obviously working this event I can't watch the shows which is actually bumming me out a little bit. For the last 3 seasons I have been almost forced to watch them. I want to support the program but the event is really, really long. Sometimes 4 hours long. And, sometimes when you're in a troupe, it's your only morning off. And you might want to do something else during that morning. Like... anything. But you always go and you always enjoy it. But today I have to sit at the gift shop. They're doing Merchant this year and since, you know, I like that play a lot (and our friend Tyler directed it), I watched a dress rehearsal on Friday night. That play is so good. I think it's my favorite play. This was the first time I've seen it since we did it. The kids did a great job. It also made me realize that our show was really, really good. Maybe some don't agree with every single choice that was directed, but it was great. And every single person knew exactly what they were saying during every single word. I am so lucky to have gotten to WATCH that show every time we performed it (we sat on stage during the whole thing).

We are dog sitting for the next couple of days for Christina. She has a little schnauzer. Last time we did this they brought the dog over at night and she went CRAZY until about 4am. She just ran back and forth between the living room and the the door that they exited through, apparently looking for them. When we were trying to sleep this was really annoying and horrible. Today they brought her over at 9am. Hopefully she will not still be running back and forth (which is what she was doing when I left) 15 hours later.

So, the rent in downtown Staunton is, from what I understand, going up. WAY up. This one weird card/novelty store is having to move out of downtown to the OTHER part of the city... they might as well be closing. Well, I'm sure they WILL be closing because no one is going to go to it anymore. There is an apartment located above the soon-to-be-former store that is $1200 a month. I'm sorry, WTF? $1200 a MONTH? In STAUNTON, VA?!?!?!?!?!?! This is not an amazingly elegant apartment. It's a 1 bedroom. I can get a 2 bedroom apartment on 119th street in New York City for $1200 a month. And in New York, there are... THINGS! And restaurants that stay open past 5pm and are open on Mondays! I was amazed when I heard this. People and their greedy, rent raising ways are going to destroy this town. No one will be able to afford to live or work here.

Today is my sister's birthday! She's 24. Can you believe that? I had my 24th birthday 2.5 years ago. Yolanda Board made me a super special crown with a "24" on it and I wore it in theatre history. Dr. Bank was probably not happy. Theatre history is the only class I ever miss. Well, it and that earth history class I took my last semester, that was great. However, it is much better to not be in school than to be in school. "Back to school" time is kind of fun when you don't have to worry about actually going TO school. Remember that feeling of dread? When I was in elementary school and high school it was excitement, but in college it was just dread. Just, "Oh my God, there's only 3 weeks of summer left.... " I feel like I probably cried about it, once. I've been reading a ton of plays recently, even without theatre history. Last night I read Baby With the Bathwater and the nights before I read Oleanna and Betrayal. Although I did like both Oleanna (although "liked" is... the wrong word) and Betrayal, I liked Baby With the Bath Water much more. Christopher Durang is so effed up. It's hilarious. I hope someday there is an American Durang Center. Or Festival. I'd like to be a part of that.

It's AUGUST! Every day gets closer to me moving away. Yay.

2009-07-30T11:51:00.002-04:00

I have to wonder: is there a correlation between smoking and committing a crime? Whenever I work an early shift and walk by the courthouse, half the people going in are smoking right beforehand. Actually, any time I walk by the courthouse there are people loitering around outside smoking. It is actually SHOCKING to me to meet/see people who smoke nowadays. I mean, I just can't believe it. Why would you pay SO MUCH MONEY for something that gives you cancer? If you need to have an addiction or need to spend $100 a week, get addicted to giving ME your money. That solves all the problems I can think of right now.

One week ago today a theatre in NJ called me and asked me to come in on Tuesday to audition for them. In New York. I didn't think I'd be ABLE to go on such short notice, but Josh lent me his car, Jeremiah covered my shift at work and Jessica and Beth let me stay with them for a night in the city and I was able to get there. I drove to, from and IN New York City. It was a long, long drive. Well, it wasn't THAT long. Not as long, as, say, Los Angeles to Kent, Ohio. It was about 6 hours. I was terrified to drive in Manhattan but that ended up being fine, it was driving in New Jersey that was REALLY terrifying. It is so confusing getting to New York! I wanted to cry a little. After I got there I couldn't find street parking (Beth and I drove around for almost an hour but the only spots that would open would have street cleaning the next morning) so I parked in a parking lot for what was, basically, a reasonable price. I loved their neighborhood. I want to live there. The funniest thing about me loving their neighborhood was the fact that the thing that REALLY made me love it was the Starbucks on the corner and this huge McDonald's on Broadway. I'm so easy to please. (The audition went okay, too.)

Driving back here was the longest drive ever. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before and I was totally losing it. I did "discover" the most beautiful Led Zeppelin song ever, though. I don't know if somehow I never heard it or I just never paid attention, but "Thank You" off of II is just amazing. I was so stunned. I heard it on the radio and then found it on my ipod and then I just shuffled Led Zeppelin for a while in the car.

I'm going stir crazy. Even though I just left the state two days ago. I need to be in a place where things are still open after 10pm..... or, if you're in downtown, after 7pm and sometimes only 5pm. It's not 1950. You know what people in this town do at night when everything is closed? Stand around in parking lots. I've never seen anything like it. Nothing for 30 miles is open except grocery stores and Wal-mart, so they hang out in the parking lots. Just hangin' and talkin'. Freaking normal people out. If there was a restaurant open, I bet they'd be hanging out there instead.

2009-07-21T10:02:00.003-04:00

Today is a cold, rainy day. It's LONDON weather, at least based on movies I've seen set in London... and references from "Oliver!" This is not why we came to the new world. We came for the SUN... and the TOBACCO.

Yesterday we were going to rent a car. There is this new theatre in Philly that had it's season auditions a couple of weeks ago that we had to miss because we couldn't afford to get to them. THEN they posted another audition in NYC for yesterday just for Little Shop that I really, really wanted to go to.... but we couldn't get to those, either. I was so depressed. I felt like it was my second chance and then it was gone. Boo. Anyway, when we decided we couldn't go to the NY auditions I was like "Well, we better do something FUN to make up for it!" We had planned on renting a car and driving to Richmond. We went to two rental places and neither one had any cars. When I called them they said that they did... but when we got there it turns out they were lying. Or just wrong. But either way, I was so bummed out. We did NOTHING yesterday except make a really good dinner and watch all the webisodes of the [title of show] show.... which, yes, was hilarious. And then we watched stuff about the Apollo 11 landing. But our dinner was great. I had completely failed at making corn on the cob last week but this week was a success thanks to my mom and James Keegan. And maybe Martin's for having better corn than Kroger. I'm sure we could get corn super fresh at a real farm... this is VIRGINIA, after all... but we'd have to drive around searching out a farm and we don't have a car. And the farmer's market is only on Saturday morning for 5 hours when I am generally sleeping.

We saw Up again on Sunday night at the cheap theatre. I missed the movie about A Chorus Line at the artsy theatre the other day and now it is gone forever. Now I'll have to rent it someday or something. But NOT on itunes because itunes rentals NEVER work for me. Anyway, Up is still good. The cheap theatre in downtown is HILARIOUS. I don't know when it was turned into a movie theatre but I sure know the last time it was decorated, and that was in the 1970s. It is just a dump. They have some nicer seats in the back but the seats in the front are hilariously bad. It doesn't matter, though... you're paying $6 and going for the MOVIE not the THEATRE. I'm not sure of the future of the building. I know what's next door is being turned into a performing arts center (supposedly) but I think they're keeping the movie part... who knows. I won't be here to find out anyway.

I am going CRAZY because I am so excited to move to New York. It's more than 2 months away but I am just. going. crazy. I wish there was more I could do right NOW. I have told nearly all my NY friends to keep me in mind for a sublet but no one is going to know anything for October right now. I also wish I could look for a job right now... but that's obviously not going to happen before I'm there. I'm sure people who are not in "the business" are going to think Chris and I are having problems since I'd be moving without him but rest assured, we're not. He's just under contract for a while and I am not. Plus, the sooner I can move, get a job and get somewhat acquainted with the city the better because when WE apply for an apartment together they're going to want at least ONE of us to have relatively solid employment. So, stop thinking crazy thoughts. We've been living together for 2 years... if we were going to have problems they'd probably have already come up.

Now the sun is starting to appear and I am going to need to switch computers so I may as well end this post. Good day.

2009-07-14T09:31:00.003-04:00

Last night I was finally able to get Chris to sign the thank you cards from our wedding which I wrote TWO MONTHS AGO. I was so proud of myself; I got them all done while bartending the week after we got back. I should have just done them at home and handed each one to him after I was finished to sign. He was REALLY busy during the last week of May and almost all of June, plus I was away doing the show, so it was hard to know if he did or did not actually have time to do it. Last night, though, when he was organizing music on itunes for a couple of hours, I brought it up and finally got it to happen. So, if you're like, "Wow, those guys are jerks for not sending thank you cards yet" know that we're only KIND OF jerks because they were done, just sitting in a bag waiting to be signed. And now we have to send them out in shifts because we don't have enough money for all the postage.

Oh my God. There is this fly in here that won't leave me alone and not only won't leave me alone, every time the phone rings it flies into my face. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I just murdered him. There are flies in here every day because we usually keep the front door open before the show while people are coming in and right after the show as they're leaving. Normally they're annoying but they're not trying to crawl into your brain via your nostrils or sit on your eyeballs. This one was. I don't think I've ever actually been ABLE to kill a fly before but I am happy that the one time I did, it was the one that REALLY deserved it. I gave him a chance. I tried scaring him and shooing him away... it did not work. I think it had gone crazy, anyway.

My friends are back in town! Some of them never left (Dennis) but now the ones who DID are back (Ben, Ginna, Josh, Rick). I haven't actually seen Ginna or Josh yet. I look forward to when I do, though. Tonight I think I am going to see a movie by myself. It's that movie Every Little Step. Had I known it was playing yesterday I might have taken Chris but I'm afraid it won't be here after this weekend. It PROBABLY will but I don't want to miss it by assuming that and being wrong.

I talked to my friend John on Sunday. He's still having fun on Broadway. The cast of Hair (that he is in) performed on The Tonight Show last night. I have seen him perform on TV at least 3 times now... Tonight Show, Late Show and the Tony awards. They were also on Good Morning, America but that was when I was at Heritage and had no TV. I saw some clips online, though! I never even watch anyone else during those things. I am just constantly looking for John or watching John because he's in the middle of the screen. It's very fun. They won a Tony award, you know. One of my best friends from college is in the cast of a Tony award winning musical on Broadway. It makes me want to cry.

I can't believe it's nearly 11am and that I've been at work for 2 hours. That is so absurd to me. I didn't sleep a lot last night because I am so used to going to bed late and getting up late because I haven't worked a morning in about a month and that was only one day (and that was a music rehearsal). This is only like the 3rd time I've opened the theatre all year. I think I am going to have more of this shift for the next couple of weeks, though... mainly because I have no idea how to run reports to close the playhouse since we switched ticketing software while I was away. I am so useful.

I don't remember what DAY I wrote last but I think it was before I got my hair colored last week. I am so happy that it's finally done. Holy crap, it looked so stupid... and now it looks great! They added a lot more blonde highlights than I was expecting but I really like it. I never mind blonde hair. I had a good time at the salon and I really liked my hairstylist... but when I walked back into my apartment and looked in the mirror there was dye ALL OVER my forehead and face. There was even some on my nose. She wiped a lot off my face but I am really wondering how she missed this. I had to scrub it off, which took some serious effort since it had been setting for a while. They did give me a free cupcake-shaped soap and some free lip balm, though. I love free stuff and they always give me some at good old Tease.

2009-07-07T16:45:00.002-04:00

So, I am back in Staunton and back to work. I am freaking out a little bit right now because I don't think I'll be getting as many bartending shifts the rest of the summer and I'm only going to be working in the costume shop for a couple of weeks so... you know... money is on my mind. I keep thinking there is some kind of imaginary job I can get, but there isn't. I suppose we could play our guitars on the street and hope people give us tips but that's unlikely. Chris is talking about moving back into company housing. I would be able to go for a while but we really would miss having our own apartment. It would save a lot of money, though. I wonder what will happen!

The show went really well. I REALLY liked working for that company and I have no complaints about anything. Our housing was great, the theatre was great, the stage managers and director were great and the cast was great. I am still not a fan of the musical "Oliver!" but I had fun every single time I was on stage. I got to dance a lot and I became friends with a lot of girls in the cast. The best part about THAT is that it's really hard for me to make friends with girls, in general. I just have a lot more guy friends but I told myself I HAD to become friends with girls during this contract and I did! I was happy and I like them a lot. Hopefully we keep in touch. I was sad to leave.

...however, just last night Chris and I returned to watch the second show in the season, Pump Boys and Dinettes. I've heard about this show forever and know that both of us would be perfect in it, but neither of us had seen it before. We loved it! It was so entertaining. I am hoping we can get over there at least once more to see Little Shop but I'd also like to see On Golden Pond.

I also watched a dress run of Titus Andronicus on Sunday here at the theatre. I like this play. It's totally nuts and messed up but it's good. It's not Shakespeare's best, but it is not annoying in any way and you really feel for the characters. I didn't even FEEL for King Lear last year and that play IS considered Shakespeare's best. I mean, maybe that's just me... it seems like other people had sympathy for him. But not me.

I have been reading a ton of plays the last month. Unfortunately I don't have a single new monologue to use yet. I have one that is an option, but I'm not sure if it's great or even usable. This process is annoying. I wish there were some kind of database that would give you a list of all the characters you're in the same age range for so you could have things narrowed down a little. I guess it's a good idea to read plays anyway... if I'm not going to, who is?... but, you know, right NOW if there's no role for me in it, I don't have time for it.

This town is weird and even though I hated it before I lived there for a while, I miss Charlottesville. I told one of my friends the other day "I would say Staunton is like Charlottesville's little sister, but it's not. It's more like Charlottesville's kind-of friend who really wants to be JUST LIKE Charlottesville."

I will have more positive things to say at a later date.

wedding pictures

2009-06-28T12:29:00.023-04:00

These last ones are our engagement photos taken the Friday before the wedding. In the picture where I am singing, the song is "Barracuda."

this is an update

2009-06-20T22:21:00.003-04:00

Ok. I know. Where did I go? Listen. It's hard to blog nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I've got plenty of TIME, it's just hard to get up the drive to actually DO IT. I don't know if I'll ever finish my honeymoon adventure. If I don't.... we had a wonderful time every single day at Disney World. We went everywhere and we had great food all over the place. I did the "American Idol Experience" at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I got on the 11 o'clock show, won my round and then competed during the finale at 7pm. I did not win that, nor did I think I would... the guy who won looked just like Matthew McConaughey and was a good singer. I had no chance. Disney World was hot but it did not rain at all the entire time we were there. It was a perfect honeymoon and we had a wonderful time.

So, I'm still in C-ville. We open this Thursday. Rehearsals have been going well and I think the show will be as good as "Oliver!" can possibly be. I am dancing a lot ("Oliver" dancing is not the same as, say, "A Chorus Line" dancing, but it's still fun) and I have made some friends, which is good. I miss Chris but it's been bearable. I like my roommates and I am able to go on walks every day before rehearsal so Ive been keeping busy.

Another thing I've been doing while here is re-organizing my music binder and finding new music for auditions. I have felt VERY on top of things lately. New headshots, new songs, I'm reading a couple new plays for monologues, new binder (my old one fell apart.. this one is made from recycled paper! Yay!), new drive to succeed in theatre.... yes. Now all I need to do is go to some auditions. I am thinking about the fall SETCs and I'm also going to try my darnedest to sublet a place in the fall in NYC and get my move on. We're still not sure about what Chris is going to do, yet... whether or not he wants to do another season here and whether or not he gets offered another season and whether or not they're good roles. He has the problem of needing health insurance because of his asthma so that's a big concern. I, apparently, don't need health insurance at all! I wish I still had it. I wish I would have been able to USE my dental insurance before it was taken away. It's such a bummer.

The other day (yesterday) the ensemble had to perform "Consider Yourself" at the downtown mall, a capella, for this local news station. It was live. It was kind of embarrassing because of COURSE a crowd formed and people took pictures.... and, you know, it's just kind of embarrassing to begin with. You can watch the clip here. I'm in the frame almost the entire time (in teal). At least I didn't mess up.

I am soooo tired today for the first time since I've been here. We had a sing through starting at 10am with the orchestra and I woke up at 8am. Since I've been going to bed so late (usually after 2am---we have rehearsal at night because of the kids) I couldn't fall asleep last night before then and consequently got less sleep than I have in weeks. I was walking to get coffee a while ago (at nearly 7pm) and I might as well have been sleep walking. I may have ACTUALLY been sleep walking. You know how sometimes you're so tired you're completely useless? I'm pretty sure you're technically asleep when that's happening. I was a zombie trudging down the sidewalk. Right now I am on my second (third?) wind while waiting for Chris to come get me since I have off tomorrow.

We got our professional wedding photos and they are awesome. I'll post some individual ones sometime soon (I PROMISE!!!) but here is a link to the entire album. You might have to register for snapfish but, you know, whatever. I made this awesome album using picaboo, a program I HIGHLY recommend. It took FOREVER to make (the program was soooo slow) but the quality is amazing and, get this: I ordered it on a Wednesday and it arrived at our apartment on Friday. It is a completely personalized book and hardcover and THAT'S how quick it came. I was amazed and then thrilled. I couldn't believe how good it looked. It's great and perfect.

Alright, this is all I can give you right now. I need to finish packing up some stuff to go home.

a non-wedding, non-honeymoon post

2009-06-04T00:27:00.002-04:00

I am going to do a real post now because i am already behind and I will be MORE behind if I try to make time to finish talking about Disney World first.

So, I am in Charlottesville right now, rehearsing for "Oliver" at the Heritage Theatre Festival. Our housing is alright---it's kind of prison-like (white, brick walls inside) but I've stayed in worse. At least there is free internet and I'm not making a "room" out of bed sheets (which I have done in actor housing before). It's also not far from the theatre... about a 5 minute walk... and that is good. My roommates are nice and even though there are not a LOT of people in the ensemble who don't go to UVA and haven't worked here before, there are at least 2, one of whom is my age and also married. So at least there is one other person here in the same boat as me. (There are also, what I call, "Legitimate Adults" but I don't consider myself one of them.)

I bought this little computer (an Eee PC) right after we got back to Staunton from the honeymoon. It is the first computer that I've ever personally owned. It's basically good for what I need it for (although it's hard to look at pictures on it) and I really actually NEEDED to have it since I was going to be leaving town. It was cheap (less than $300) and we used wedding gift money. It does not have a CD drive, though.... but luckily I also have my little, portable DVD player that my dad got me for Christmas a couple years ago. So, I am basically set for right now. (Although I am renting "Role Models" and trying to download it on itunes and it is taking forEVER. I want to watch it tonight but since it says 7 hours left, I guess that won't be happening.)

Chris and I went to see "Heart" play here in Charlottesville at the pavilion on May 20th. It was sooooo freaking great. They did all original keys and although Ann did NOT hit the G in Barracuda she was really close (and she shook her head in disapproval of herself after that). I was like "Man!! Why didn't they just lower it even half a step???" Chris said, "Because they're not ready to GIVE UP! On a good day, you know she still has that note." Plus, the song was really late into the set. She had to be tired. I was screaming the whole time. Crazy on You was the last song in the encore and I was so excited I jumped onto the chair. I KNEW they would do it... they did all the hits (and they really made These Dreams and Never sound WAY less 80s-ish, which was great) but since it was last it was extra special.

The Cavs did not win the eastern championship and everyone was sad. Chris gave up pretty early into the series against the Magic. I am getting pissed off at people who apparently just hate Cleveland to hate Cleveland who are now saying that LeBron James isn't a good player. Apparently these people have never looked at any statistics or read anything about basketball in their lives, they're just saying what they think is the popular thing to say. It's amazing that the Cavs won ANY games during that series since apparently everyone else on the team forgot how to play basketball. I would like to direct the people who say LeBron isn't good to this article. Seriously, you should read it. I know you probably won't since you tend to not listen to opinions that you don't want to hear, but you should. Maybe then you would stop sounding off your "I'm an idiot who likes the sound of his (or her) own voice" trumpet. It was LeBron James verses the entire Magic team.... and even when the Magic won, it wasn't by a HUGE margin. So, you know, shut up.

I really miss Chris! It's dumb... he's so close and I'm actually going to see him tomorrow (not to mention the fact that I can leave after rehearsal on Saturdays and go back home until Monday afternoon) but... today, June 4th, is our month-i-versary of being married. I can't believe I'm married. I accidentally called him my boyfriend the other day. I'm sure it will not be the last time. It's still hard to imagine that *I* have a HUSBAND. I mean, I was always a serial monogamist, but being married is totally different. And I actually LIKE Chris... A LOT! We have a great time together all of the time.

Oh man. We saw UP in 3D on Sunday night. It was beautiful and hilarious and wonderful. I cried during most of the movie. Especially because Chris looks like Carl and I like adventure. And because we're newlyweds. And because we're in love. AND because that dog is so nice and I understand metaphors. Man. If you're thinking about it, choose yes. It's so good. It's WALL-E good. It might even be BETTER than WALL-E... it might even better than The Little Mermaid. Or at least as good. Sometimes I leave the movie theatre and I can't talk about the movie for a while without crying.... then you know it's good. UP is about as good as a movie can get.

It made me want a dog even more, too.

disney world part 1

2009-05-26T15:12:00.010-04:00

We got to the airport at about 9am for our 10:40am flight. My dad picked us up that morning and drove us down there so thanks to him! It has been a REALLY LONG TIME since I have actually flown with another person. 2004, I think, was the last time. I have flown over 100 times since 2000 and I've only flown with someone else like 10 times. Max. Anyway, it was really nice to have a friend on a 2 hour flight. We slept a little bit on the plane and then, 2 hours later, we landed. IN ORLANDO! Thanks to the Disney Magical Express service we didn't have to worry about picking up our luggage or anything and we got to go straight onto the bus to take us to our hotel.

Now, let me just say that the Pop Century resort was fine. I had no problems with the fact that it was more "motel" than "hotel," or how ridiculous the giant characters were, or the fact that the park-to-hotel bus stop was ALWAYS the farthest one away from the gate, or the lack of wireless internet. I really liked the gift shop and the food court, I probably would have liked the pool if I went in it... what I didn't like was the fact that people let their kids run wild. Every where. They also let them scream in the rooms. A lot. I realize it's Disney World. There are going to be kids screaming and running anywhere you go. However, I think that there would be LESS of that at a nicer resort. So, that said, I wouldn't want to stay at the Pop Century Resort again, unless I had kids, which would be a very unwise decision in these tough financial times (and, as an actor lady).

When we checked in they gave us our special "Just Married" pins which we wore EVERYWHERE until we got to the airport a week later to leave. I didn't have to do any convincing to get Chris to wear it. He loved it. He would even wear it down to the food court at night just to get a drink refill (in our refillable mugs!) just in case someone gave him something for free. Which they often did.

That night we had reservations at Cinderella's caste for dinner so we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We didn't do too much there since we'd be returning on Sunday (and since we were WAY over dressed for how hot it was (since our luggage hadn't arrived yet for us to change and it was cold in Ohio when we got dressed that morning) ) but we did ride Splash Mountain and the train around the kingdom. The actual reviews I had read for dinner at the castle were only decent (although I remember it being AWESOME the last time I was there) and although it was completely different from what it was in 2002, we still had a great time. The food was GREAT and they gave us a free cupcake along with the dessert that came with every single meal. I think we basically went back to the hotel after that because we'd already been up since 6am and I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. We did walk around the hotel at night to see all the other buildings (we were staying in the 1960s section) which was fun.

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom! I was looking forward to this park the most since I didn't spend that much time in it the last time I was at Disney World. The animal safari was awesome but so was the walking tour animal thing (I have no idea what it was called). We saw this gorilla and it was so awesome that Chris cried a little. He's been watching a lot of Escape to Chimp Eden and Orangutan Island on the Animal Planet. There were a lot of other cool animals, but this guy (or girl!) was by far the closest, most posed and most amazing. You can see an elephant or giraffe any day (you know... in Africa)... Gorillas are different!! There was a lot of conservation stuff at this park, too... and all the straws were paper which I LOVED! I wish all straws were paper and I don't understand why they're not. If we can drink from paper cups we can drink from paper straws.

Because of our "just married" pins the guy checking Fast passes for Expedition Everest let us keep them and ride the ride again! This was great but it also made Chris sick since he didn't bring any Dramamine with him. Instead of riding the Dinosaur ride, we went to see the Finding Nemo musical which was AMAZING!!!!! I actually cried, a lot, during it. Listen. I know it was nothing spectacular in the way of theatre and I wish the puppets had more expressions but it was awesome. The people were great singers and it was so technically amazing that I just loved every second of it. I am trying to convince Chris that he should play Marlin and that I should play Dori and that we should go to the auditions together and be fish friends. I'm sure my Shakespearean Actor husband would love to play a fish when he gets out of here. I am SURE OF IT.

So, since Chris wasn't feeling too well and since we needed to get to EPCOT for dinner anyway, we decided to check out the Animal Kingdom Lodge (where we also transferred buses). Man. I wish I was rich so that I could stay there. Can you imagine having this effing giraffe as your view every morning? Me neither. It was so cool. And, like I thought, there were not screaming children everywhere.

After we got to EPCOT the first thing we did was the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 3D... thing. Adventure, whatever. It was not as wonderful and I remembered it being. We killed some time by looking at the England and France pavilions in the World Showcase before heading to Canada to eat at Le Cellier. I made my reservation for Le Cellier in February. When I went to check in we found out the guy had made it for the wrong restaurant. I was about to freak out (this place is REALLY HARD to get in to) but luckily, perhaps because of the pins, they got us in anyway. We loved our server. She was SO CANADIAN. It was awesome. I love Canada, and not just in EPCOT. My steak was covered in coffee grounds and I don't remember what the potatoes were (cream cheese???) but they were awesome. Our desserts were even awesomer. You can see both in this picture. I had s'mores (some kind of brownie-like graham-cracker topped with ice cream, a real brownie and marshmallows with this crazy marshmallow on a stick coming out of it), Chris had the chocolate "moose." Our server gave us free champagne (which I didn't drink) and a card saying "congratulations" signed by all the Canadians. We just loved her. And, God, I loved that dessert. It was, as they say, "epic."

We went back to the hotel after that because nothing could top Le Cellier that night. And that, my friends, is the first day and a half at Disney World. I already felt like I lived there and there had never been a time before Disney World after a day and a half. I wish that were really true.

post-marriage reception (part 4)

2009-05-26T13:59:00.001-04:00

The post-marriage reception (part 4) is now up at the other blog, so read it and follow this link to get there! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the ceremony (part 3)

2009-05-20T14:52:00.007-04:00

(for part 1, see part 1. For part 2, please see part 2)

The ceremony started with Ben singing "I Will" and Tony playing. I had both my parents walk me in, which was, no joke, a walk of about 10 steps. Or less. There was some confusion over who would go first in the hallway and since Chris and basically everyone else could see us, it must have been pretty funny. At some point we figured it out and we all entered. My mom started crying like a baby while we were waiting in the hall. It was sad. I had to tell her to stop lest *I* start to cry.

Ben started the ceremony with the traditional,

"Maw-waige. Maw-waige is what bwings us togevah today."

It was awesome.

Every one loved Ben. He was so good. He was funny and charming and meaningful and it was perfect. I am so glad we got him ordained over the internet and legalized to perform marriages in Ohio. It was the best decision ever. At one point he was saying something about the journey we've gone on to get to where we are today and then he added, "so much so that I thought about using a quote from the band 'Journey'." That was like the one really NEW things he added and that I didn't know was coming (I had read his original script so I knew pretty much everything) and I laughed a lot. I just love Ben.

So, the rest of our ceremony included Shakespeare readings by Emily and Ginna (sonnets 115 and 116, respectively), Greg singing I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Jason singing I've Just Seen a Face and Rick Blunt reading our dinosaur book, A Lovely Love Story. Every one started crying when Greg was singing, either because they could see our faces (like in the picture on the right) or because they saw Greg see our faces and choke up mid-song, OR because Greg is the best guy singer ever, or maybe because the song is really, really good. Or maybe all of the above. Our friend Dennis put his sun glasses on. I was able to stop crying, especially because I held up the dinosaur book to show the pictures while Rick was reading. Jen was, luckily, armed with tissues for me, though.

Next up we come to a little things called "vows." As you may have read in part 2, I made a bullet point list the night before of my vows because I couldn't imagine reading them off the paper. I was honestly standing around before the ceremony, asking people's opinion on whether or not I should read the original vows or do the bullet point list. They must have thought I was crazy. I WAS crazy! Talk about last minute. I decided to do the bullet point list.... but when it came time to do them, I couldn't even read THOSE! I literally could not READ the paper. What happened seems almost a dream right now and in some ways I feel like I must have blacked out because I hardly remember anything that I said past, "This is going to be weird for every one else because I say these things to you every day." I know I threw the paper at Ben, I know I buried my head into Chris's chest and said that I couldn't READ it (I don't mean that I was illiterate for a few moments, I mean that reading them felt wrong and that I had to come up with stuff right then and there to say)... I improvised my vows. I told him I'd take care of his asthma-y lungs. I told him that I loved him more than anything else, ever. I don't know what else I told him. I don't know how I ended them. I might have said, "the end." I don't know.

Chris's vows, on the other hand, were AMAZING. He said he felt like a jerk reading them off the paper after I made such a big deal about NOT reading mine, but his were good to begin with. I mean, REALLY good. Like, they were the best thing I've ever heard in my life. I told him that when he finished. He gave them to me later. I will take them everywhere.

After that, to his own amazement, Ben pronounced us husband and wife and we went into the hallway and hugged people and then went outside to take pictures in the windy 58 degree weather.... in the sunset.

part 2

2009-05-20T11:30:00.001-04:00

I posted part 2 on the other blog so if you want to read part 2, please follow this link. You should. I don't know why blogger isn't letting me cut and paste these. It's weird.

part 1

2009-05-19T12:28:00.014-04:00

Hi everybody. This is going to have to be a multi-part series of blog posts. When I got back to town on Thursday the idea of retelling our adventures was so daunting that I could hardly take it. I am now at work and have some time to start, so we will have to see how far I can get!

Besides finding the hilarious "Mr. X" video below (along with the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism videos, part 1 and part 2), I did a lot of things while I was at home! I got my headshots taken on Friday. I haven't even had very much time to weed them down, yet. That is another daunting task. However, we had a really good time and our engagement photos are hilarious and awesome. Everyone thought I was nuts but I really like the way they turned out (I'll get some of those up soon). My "bachelorette party" consisted of me and my sister going to Wal-mart at midnight to buy make up for Saturday the 2nd. I was so tired (I could write an entire blog post about how I didn't sleep the entire weekend. I think I got something like 8 hours of sleep TOTAL before we got to Disney World) that I apparently picked up something that I was wondering what it was, put it in our basket for some reason, and neither one of us noticed until we were in the car and wondered why the bill was so high. I mean, I was REALLY tired. I could barely even form sentences. Chris went out and had a real party with his old friends from high school and went to Great Lakes Brewing and went bowling. I pretty much fell asleep at a Wal-mart. They're the same, right?

So, on Saturday I took a good two hours to put on the make up from the night before and we had our little pre-wedding reception in the ballroom of the yacht club. I think it went really well! We had to practice a little bit before most people started arriving, although many of them came in while we were still going through stuff. This is a picture of us practicing a Neko Case song. I know this because that was the only song I ended up playing guitar on. Our set list was as follows:

Chris on the theme to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

"This Tornado Loves You" by Neko Case

Chris on "The Girl's Alright" (with audience participation!)

"Love Will Come to You" by the Indigo Girls

"Airplane" by the Indigo Girls

"Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac (for Dix Huit!!)

"Barracuda" by Heart (acoustic!!!)

We sang "Airplane" because we knew it. That was the only reason. We did this event for the Airport Operators of the Shenandoah Valley last year and we sang it there, so we brought it back... for our wedding. My brother played bass on "Rhiannon" and, like I said before, "Barracuda" was acoustic... which you don't often hear. I have not managed to NOT mess up this song when I sing it. The rhythm is so hard.

My mom made a three-tiered cake which was red velvet on the bottom, carrot in the middle and yellow on top, along with a yellow sheet cake that didn't even get cut in to. She was horribly distressed on Saturday because when they went to put it together at the Yacht Club, she moved the whole thing at once and the top piece started to sink. She freaked out. It wasn't that bad. I don't even know if I would have noticed had she not come home freaking out. The cake was awesome, though. I wish I would have been able to eat more of it. I did not get enough to eat either night. I'm not even sure all of what was served on Saturday... I know I had some chicken fingers and carrots... besides that, I really don't know what else was there.

My friend Jenny from high school and two of my friends from Sterling, Katie and (Meredith) Dix Huit Cordray were able to make it on Saturday and I was soooooo happy. I was actually able to have a conversation with them, too, which was even better. Chris only had TWO friends on Saturday night, his best man Jason and his friend from grad school Adam (and his girlfriend). I think most people get married in the city they live in. I also think that most people's entire group of friends don't move to other places, making it next to impossible to have people come to things. If we would have had a reception in New York there would have been tons of friends there!

I think there were about 150 people on Saturday at we used all of our allotted time but did get out by 11pm. Chris and I then went back to my parent's house to open presents and cards. We had video footage of that but I don't think I'll post it online because that would be weird and probably rude. I have some other video footage from the actual reception which I am sure I'll put online once my dad actually sends it to me.

Here is a great picture of the Ledyard kids. It's great because it is TRUE:

I think people had a good time. I hope they did. I had a good time (from what I can remember... it seemed to last forever and for a second at the same time). People kept doing the clinking their glass thing to get us to kiss but I was like "Dude. We're not married yet. We're IMMUNE to that." We also had to cut the cake as if we were married (Chris said, "They need to see the cake show!") but as soon as we did it, I think we walked in opposite directions away from each other. It was actually a really weird event. I think some people may have thought we were already married by the time we had this reception. We got a lot of checks addressed to "Alisa or Chris Seiler." Those we knew what to do with (give them to Chris to put in the bank). At least one was made out to "Alisa Seiler" and I honestly don't know what to do with it. I don't know if I CAN cash it because I am not Alisa Seiler. I mean, I guess the bank would understand that Alisa Seiler doesn't exist (well, she does in someone else, but not in me) and that the person who sent it didn't know I kept my name.... at least, I HOPE they would understand that. I'm not going to be like "I'm sorry. I am still Alisa Ledyard. Can you write me a new check?"

Changing your name is a funny thing. Or, maybe, NOT changing your name is a funny thing. People obviously expect you to in Ohio... but almost every woman I know down here in Virginia who is married kept her original last name. I think Chris didn't even WANT me to. I had a conversation with him about it once and he said "but Alisa Ledyard sounds so good with all the Ls!" Hardly any actors do it and I can see why. I'd hate to go to UPTAs again next year and have people get confused about whether or not I was the same person they saw the year before (unless it was beneficial to me :) ). Plus, I spent so much time in 5th-8th grade perfecting my signature that it'd be a waste to lose it now. "S" is a hard letter for me to make look cool in cursive. "L" is easy.

.....TO BE CONTINUED.

a little pre-wedding treat

2009-05-03T18:13:00.001-04:00

sometimes my head hurts. right now, for one.

2009-04-21T21:06:00.003-04:00

We went to that concert the other night. It was pretty great. Chris's friend Mike took us backstage and showed us what he does (all the video for the band) and then showed us the touring buses. He was leading us across the back of the stage while the house was open and I was literally giggling out of embarrassment. Like, "oh my god, you guys, people who see us would think we're important and we're NOT! hehehehehehe!" The show was great. We did not meet Mr. Dave Matthews but I didn't really expect to since Charlottesville is his hometown and he has other people to see there (although you can bet I had a script prepared if I did). The lounge was alright. There was free food. It was in the cafeteria of UVA. I told Chris I was going to get a bowl of cereal.

Parking was $20. That is HIGH. I guess it's ok, though, since that's all we paid for.

I am lobby sitting right now and annoyed with how many people come to any MLitt project or show over an hour late. Then, when I tell them that it began an hour ago, even if it's just to get them to keep their voices down, they get all snip-snappity with me. Whatever, yous.

My right contact has been bothering me for days. I should probably just change them, especially since I'm planning on changing them on May 1st anyway, but I want to hold out for some reason. That is stupid. I should just DO it. I keep them in a month longer than I'm supposed to and I'm sad that they're uncomfortable by the end of the 2nd month? Dumb. Well, I can't change them right this second since I'm at work so I will have to lie in the bed I made for myself.

I can't get into AI this season. Well, maybe I should say that I DON'T WANT TO get into it this season. Everyone is so bad! Every time I watch it I am embarrassed for them. I don't like that red haired girl even though the judges think she's amazing, the guy who can sing but is so over the top just CONFUSES me and everyone else is boring. Plus, I HATE that new judge. She's CRAZY. Last season was good. Season 3 and 4 were GREAT. This season sucks. If I was ever on AI this blog post would be all over the internet and people would criticize me for it.

You know what I am not looking forward to? Assigning seats. I do feel it to be necessary for this wedding of ours but I fear it is going to take more than the hour or so Chris seems to think it will take. I have also not even started vows. I had an idea while falling asleep a couple weeks ago but nothing has become of it. I was telling Josh the other day that I think they're supposed to be directed ONLY to the person right in front of you... but in my mind I can only think of them like a speech, with explanations. I guess they can be whatever I want them to be, right? Probably...

i like cookies

2009-04-17T00:24:00.003-04:00

Any time a dog show is on TV we always watch it. I don't know why. They are always the same dogs and usually one of us falls asleep and the other wakes [him] up to be like, "YOU'RE MISSING THE WESTIE!!!!! You've REALLY got to see this dog!!!!!!"

Tomorrow, for the first time since December, I am not working the show on a day that I am working and there is a show. I am opening, which means I am working 9-5. What's funny is that Chris's friend works on the Dave Matthews Band tour doing some kind of tech stuff and he offered Chris some free tickets for this weekend. I didn't think I'd be able to go because I assumed I'd be working the show... but I'm NOT. Which means tomorrow I am going to see DMB for FREE with some FREE lounge passes, also!!! I am excited. It is going to be pretty great. I don't even know what the "lounge" really is, but I can only assume it's... you know... awesome.

Man, listen. We're getting effing MARRIED in 2.5 weeks. It's so crazy!! Yesterday was the RSVP deadline so we have numbers and are getting food figured out (we're going to be having a PASTA BAR on Monday!!!), favors figured out, final hair things ordered, ceremony beginning to get planned out (you'd think this would have been something we would have started with before now) and I've been reading my Disney books like it's my job. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!!! Oh my gosh. Sometimes I have these moments of "Two weeks from today we're going to be at Animal Kingdom. But OH NO!!!! THREE WEEKS from today we're going to be back home!!!!!!!" Chris told me I couldn't be sad about leaving before I even got there. It's not going to work. I want to live at Disney World. Anyway, besides going to Disney World, we are also having a wedding first and I think it is going to be a really fun time.

Today during Hamlet some old lady took a picture (which you are not allowed to do at our theatre or any other professional theatres). When I saw the flash (yes, not only a picture, but a FLASH picture??) I thought at first that a light blew, especially because none of the ushers saw where it came from. I was talking to an usher about it when a man in the audience came up and told us who took the picture. I watched her from the side until she started aiming her camera to take another picture and then I literally RAN down the stairs,wearing a dress and high heeled boots, in the middle of the show, in a theatre that keeps the lights on, thrust myself past the couple on the end of the row behind her and made her put it away. She looked kind of pissed at intermission but seriously, it's not MY fault she didn't listen to directions. The cast was really happy that I did. A couple people came up into the lobby to tell Solomon, who was the house manager, in case he didn't already know, right after she took the original picture and then they were like, "Great job reprimanding that old lady!!" I was like... yeah. I told her. NOT ON MY WATCH, LADY!!

Speaking of cameras, we had to buy a new one. When Chris went back to Ohio somehow he broke our old one. At some point those rechargeable lithium batteries that can take like 200 pictures came out... but I didn't know about them until, say, Monday of this week. I always assumed we were still using AA batteries in all of of cameras. I am very HAPPY that these new batteries exist because AA batteries, whether or not they are rechargeable, still only take like 20 pictures before they're done. Anyway, so we saw these new, amazing batteries and figured it'd be worth it to get a camera that took it instead of the AA batteries, even though the latter would be cheaper. I love our new camera. It's super thin, super light, still holds our old memory card, 10 mega pixels and will apparently take 200 pictures before the battery needs to be recharged. It's also PURPLE. Chris loved that aspect best.

grizzly countenance indeed!!

2009-04-06T23:46:00.002-04:00

Bahahahahaha!!!!!

Holy crap. Can you believe the difference?? The beardo picture was taken Sunday March 29th, the middle on Tuesday the 31st and the last one today. I never really minded the beard until I saw it now. When he came back from his haircut on the 31st I was like, "Oh my GOD! You look so good!!" He clearly looked at least 10 years younger (and no longer like a homeless person). Now he just looks like a kid. I never want him to grow that beard again! Man!! I just about fell out of my seat when I saw these pictures tonight. It's ridiculous and hilarious. Please don't make him grow that again, anyone.

Today we had dinner at McAlister's, which was great. I really like rosemary bread. I felt no guilt about eating it which made it even better. I like to be able to eat without guilt (something that doesn't happen if I go to, say, KFC).

Yesterday it was above 70 degrees, today the high was over 60 and tomorrow it is probably going to SNOW!!! That's stupid.

I did just find out Chris and I are not going to have the same day off during the month I'm working at Heritage. I'll have off on Sundays, he on Mondays. Boo. At least it's only a month.

....annnnnnd, that's all I got.

i need to go to bed. really.

2009-04-04T01:30:00.003-04:00

Chris is in Ohio right now. He's coming back on Sunday morning but he's not here NOW and when I see him again I might not even recognize him! He shaved today (it's still Friday to me) for the first time in over 2 years. Even seeing him with a regular beard length the other day was shocking. THRILLING, but shocking. I literally stared at him for half an hour. I usually stare at him for a while, but this was an extreme amount of staring. He looked no older than 30. You will laugh at me for saying that, but it's true. He has such nice skin!

On Monday we went to see "I Love You, Man" in Harrisonburg. Now, of course, it is playing at the theatre within walking distance, but it wasn't then and then was when we wanted to go. It was great! It was the first movie I've seen since December. Jeez. That's dumb. Anyway, it was very funny and you know how I love that Paul Rudd. If you DON'T know, here's your answer: i love him a lot.

Oh man. I got stuff in the mail today from Disney World. I am STOKED. Not only do we get a $15 credit at Planet Hollywood for food, we get a free piece of merchandise from their store! Chris asked if they sell Planet Hollywood TVs in their store. They probably don't. Oh man, though. I can't WAIT to go to Disney World. It is going to be the best time EVER and my only concern the entire time (hopefully) is going to be the stupid NBA playoffs. I CANNOT have that ruin our honeymoon. That LaBron James is something special and I need him (and the rest) to play their ASSES OFF so that we're not like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Not on our honeymoon, guys. Please. Cleveland needs you. I need you.

I took advantage of Chris's absence today by going to TJMAX. I always feel bad when he takes me there. He doesn't mind but there is nothing for him to look at so I'll find him in the back looking at books he doesn't REALLY care about. This way I had all the time in the world!... or, all the time until I had to go to work. I am not all about all the long dresses that are all over the place. I said "all" three times in that sentence. They are everywhere and all I want to do is find short dresses and skirts. I am going to be the only girl showing my knees this season. It's going to be scandalous.

Also, why is it impossible to find a bathing suit that does NOT have a halter top? I wouldn't mind a halter except they really hurt my neck. Even boleros hurt my neck. Maybe this is my own problem, but seriously. Help me out, companies. You want business. I'll give it to you if you will give me a bathing suit with shoulder straps instead of a halter top.

stupid smarch weather

2009-03-26T12:41:00.001-04:00

I call my parents every Sunday night and half the time the conversation is like this:
"So, anything new?"
"No. Just working all the time."
That is what this blog post today will be like. I feel like I SHOULD update because it's unlikely that more will happen but I also don't have too much to say. Mostly wedding stuff has been happening and if you want to read about that, you can go to seilard.blogspot.com.

The weather this week has sucked. You keep thinking it's going to get warmer in the afternoon but then it doesn't. Every morning it's like 30 degrees and then it's like 49 in the afternoon. Yes, that is, technically, warmer but 49 degrees is the worst temperature it could be. The last two days it has been raining which makes it even worse. I want to be able to turn the heater off. I'm not even asking to turn the fan on, just the heater off! I thought March went in like a lion and came out like a lamb. This is more like a wet fish from the north pacific than a lamb. I want real spring. It will start sooner here than in Ohio. Spring always makes me so environmentally aware.

I really have been working a lot. When I was paid salary and only had to work 40 hours a week I felt like I had the easiest job ever! I'd always have half a day off and I had so much time to relax. Since they eliminated my full time job and I have to work hourly in the box office PLUS the job in the costume shop that I HAD to get to make up for the pay cut, I feel like I live at the theatre. Usually I just work at night but since I have to come in at 2:30pm it's hard to describe it as "a night shift." I am just always there. I'm way more tired than I was in the summer and fall and even though I am bringing home about the same amount of money, before I had insurance. So, actually, I'm NOT making as much money, I just don't have any health coverage so it seems like I am.

Speaking of health insurance I think I am getting sick. Everyone I know got sick before me. Chris had that horrible flu at the end of January and I managed to avoid it. I BABYSIT and I managed to avoid their super baby illnesses. However, today I woke up and I don't feel so good. Step one, vitamin C pill. Step two, Zicam. Zicam really works (knock on wood). I bet it's because I worked 13.5 hours yesterday, many of which were spent running up and down 5 flights of stairs and pulling garbage cans and recycling up a really steep hill in the 40 degree rainy weather. YUM.

I did sleep like a rock last night, though.

Oh yeah, I mentioned it on twitter but this summer I will be working at the Heritage Repertory Theatre in Charlottesville doing "Oliver!" They are giving me housing, which is great since I don't have a car, and the pay is pretty decent, too. It's really nice that it is so close to Staunton so when I leave for a month as a newlywed, I can still see Chris pretty regularly. I am happy to have an actng job, happy that I don't know anyone who works at the theatre and got the job all myself and happy that they are letting me take off a month of work to do this show and come back in July.

Tomorrow is Chris's birthday! The next day is the anniversary of our engagement. Yes, yes... awwwwww. I don't think we'll have time to actually do anything on any of those days but hooray for them anyway!

what happens in two weeks

2009-03-20T23:42:00.003-04:00

The last two weeks have been seriously crazy. The worst thing to happen in a very, very long time was news we received on March 8th. The 3 1/2 year old daughter of our artistic director died that day. He sent out an email that evening to let everyone know and ask for prayers, etc.... I read the message in disbelief. The first thing I thought was something along the lines of "there must still be a way to save her!" She was born premature and had a lot of problems when she was a baby but for the last year things had been great. I guess she had her first asthma attack and her heart stopped and was unable to be restarted. It was horrible. Chris and I just sat on the couch crying for half an hour. I had a lot of trouble getting through the week without thinking about it and suddenly crying... and what is worse is that what I was feeling is NOTHING to what her family was feeling. We just all felt so bad. There was a memorial on Sunday (the 15th) evening. Jim and Margo gave wonderful speeches. We cried the whole time. I started crying basically as soon as I walked into the building. There were so many people there, some who worked at the theatre a long time ago who I've never met but always wondered when I would. I would have preferred to never meet them if that situation could have been avoided. It is just so sad.

In other news, on Monday the 9th we got our wedding invitations printed at Staples for $20 and they are awesome. We spent the next week trying to print on the envelopes. We borrowed Christina's printer, a work printer, Staples and Minute Man printing and NONE of them could print on this specific size envelope. It was so crazy annoying. We finally just wrote on them ourselves and sent them out today. They do not look nice. Deal with it.

Last Sunday I was supposed to go on the train at 1:30 to go to NYC. Because of the memorial I canceled my ticket and got a ride with Greg, Alyssa and Miriam who just happened to also be going that day. We got in at about 3am and I met John Moauro and some of his Hair cast at a diner. The next day I went to see the KSU showcase. It was actually a really great time. The kids did a good job and I got to see SO MANY PEOPLE, most of whom I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again. TK took John and I out to eat dinner with some people which was super nice and Haven invited me to her restaurant the next day. I was supposed to go with Justin and Griffin but Justin... uh... forgot... mainly, I think, because he was drunk when the conversation was going on. I did go with Griffin though and we had such a GREAT time!!! Haven gave us so much free stuff and the restaurant was ADORABLE. She gave us 3 pots of tea, 4 scones, 2 cupcakes for free (plus a discount on our regular food) and then said "what would you like to go?" I didn't take anything but Griffin got some more stuff (fresh) to take home. She also tried to refuse a tip from us saying she doesn't take money from friends. She scratched Griffin's out on the receipt and I finally had to stick a $10 bill into the back on her shirt and run away. I just loved seeing them so much. It was such a wonderful day for me.

After lunch Griffin walked me to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and I went to see John in Hair. It was amazing and wonderful. For some reason I didn't realize until I sat down in my awesome seat (thanks, John!) that not only was it my friend making his broadway debut, it was the show I love most in this world. Their Woof had one of the most incredible voices I've ever heard. One of the times he was in the audience he went right up to me and was caressing my hair and I just looked at him and said, "you're an awesome singer." He kissed my cheek. Later he gave me a flower. I felt like such a fangirl. Everyone was great, though, and I cried through like half the show out of happiness. Apparently freaking James Rado (co-creator/ original Claude) was there, in the audience. I told John after the show that he's the one person I would be crazy star-struck to meet (but would LOVE to meet) and he told me he was there and that I could have met him. I was... disappointed that I didn't. That would have been amazing. I did meet the girl playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid on broadway at showcase, though. I told her all about the ASC (which she asked a bunch of questions about and said "that sounds like so much fun!!!") and all about etsy. I ALSO told her that Jodi Benson (the voice of the original Ariel) was the reason I started singing. She said the same thing happened to her. She was super nice.

On Wednesday I woke up after 2.5 hours of sleep (at 3:30am), said goodbye to John and walked to the subway station on the streets of Inwood at 4am. I was pretty nervous but it obviously was fine. I only had to wait about 25 minutes for the A train and I got to Penn Station a little after 5am. At 6:40 I boarded my Amtrak train to come home. I had never ridden a train and didn't know what to expect but it was easier than I thought and kind of fun. Since I was the first person in the car I got to pick my seat (I chose the only window seat with a plug). I didn't have to sit with anyone else until after 1pm, I think. The seats and bathrooms are huge, there is a ton of legroom, there are footstools.. it's great. Although..... it did get pretty old by the end of the trip. I was definitely like "I need to get off this train" even though I slept some of the time and was so tired that I was delirious the rest of the time. The snack car was pretty disappointing... in my mind it was going to have a real restaurant or something. I don't know why I thought that. (However, I did have a GREAT turkey sandwhich from a Starbucks on Monday. I told Chris about this amazing sandwich later and he said, "boy, you sure are livin' it up in New York with your Starbucks food!")

Now I am just working forever and forever. I may be going to an audition on Monday in Arlington. We shall see.

the judges drink san pellegrino in those coke cups

2009-03-07T00:23:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I forget that I was at that taping of American Idol back in 2005 and when I remember I'm like, "Holy crap. I was really close to the judges." Here is photographic proof of this. I was in the 3rd row back; you can see me looking off to the side, behind Paula. What was I looking at? Bo Bice. LOL. It's totally true. Bo was my faaaaavorite that year. Someone in the audience asked him where he got this pair of leather pants. The store was this vintage shop on Melrose (called Wasteland)... I started going there all the time. Not really to try to run in to Bo Bice (although that would have been awesome!) but because this store was so effing cool. They had the BEST vintage clothes, shoes and accessories I have ever come across. As we have nothing cool in Staunton, VA, I often think about Melrose Avenue and how much I loved everything about that road.

I've been watching AI on and off this year. I keep forgetting that it is on. I hope the contestants are good. I haven't been that impressed so far. I really want to like the two blonde girls.

I haven't updated either of my blogs in a long time because I haven't had that much to talk about. I work all the time and since they're mainly night shifts I don't get to just surf the web as much. On top of the box office and costume shop, I've also been babysitting a couple of times a week for the Harrells. It's been fun. Martha Jane still cries when mom or dad leave but she feels better not too long after. I changed my first diaper the other day (her's, not mine). I was scared. I still don't know if I did it right. I always thought the tape would be way stickier. Eliot and I listen to the Spoon album, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" a lot and play with Google Earth. The kittens are the cutest little cats ever! The last time I was over Murry crawled into my jacket (that I was wearing) and went to sleep. Shortly after, Titus followed him. It was so cute. I wish someone would have been there with a camera.

The weather was beautiful today! It should be pretty nice all weekend. I like to hope that it won't be below 50 again until October but that's just silly. On Monday the 2nd there was so much snow (2 inches or so) that they cancelled all the schools and closed a bunch of stores (because they are WIMPS. The roads were DRY and it was sunny all day!). On Friday the 6th it was above 60 degrees. Winter doesn't make any sense. As much as I love days like today, I would prefer not to have them if the weather will get bad again. Getting teased with nice weather is worse than it being cold for 4 months.

I will probably have some real news soon. If nothing else, I'm going to NYC in a week to see John in "Hair." I'll have other news, though... just wait and seeee!

i need pancakes before i ride the train

2009-02-22T21:16:00.002-05:00

I'm at work lobby sitting and these two boys who were here for a show just spent a great deal of time talking to me about Mormonism. First of all, I'm 98% sure the more talkative boy was gay. Second, as I told them, they're not going to convince me to suddenly become a Mormon. Third, I don't like talking to strangers. Fourth, I REALLY don't like talking about religion to strangers. Fifth, I'm at work and I've been here all day and week and I haven't been off since Monday and it's within the last 2 hours that I'm here. FOR REAL, don't talk to me about becoming a Mormon right now. The talkative guy asked "what's the raddest free souvenir you've got here?" I gave him a pen. He gave me a tract.

So, other than THAT, not too much has been going on. I'm working all the time, whether it's in the box office or the costume shop. I've also been babysitting the delightful Harrell children this week (and the kittens) in exchange for dress alterations. We bought some wedding stuff this week (candy and napkins!). I ask Chris about everything involving our wedding. I even asked him about the dress. I mean, he always says the same thing ("whatever you want, baby!") but I still feel the need to ask him. I think we're going to look at rings tomorrow and, if nothing else, get our correct ring size and then possibly order them online.

I've been having crazy dreams lately. My most common re-occurring "bad dream" is that somehow I never graduated college and I have to go back and take another class. I am always SO relieved when I wake up. That would be HORRIBLE!

You know, I bet the Mormons chose me because they sensed that I don't drink. I am so unapproachable and miserable right now that I can't see why ANYONE would want to talk to me.

I am going on a train to New York City in a couple weeks! I am SO excited!! It's gonna be great. I'm going to see John in Hair on BROADWAY!! AHHHH! My first friend on Broadway. I'm also going to watch him introduce the KSU showcase--twice--but that's a technicality. He needed a date. I am in the process of hoarding magazines to read on the train. It's a long trip. I could have gotten a flight for slightly cheaper but I would have needed to find a ride to DC, which is two hours away. The train station in this town is literally 2 blocks away from me and I can get a ride all the way to Penn Station. That is great. I mean, maybe I really should not be excited about riding a train, but I TOTALLY am. Probably because I've never ridden one before. I'm also scared. What happens when you get on? Where do you put your bag? Exactly how late is the train from Staunton to NYC going to be? I have so many Amtrak-related questions.

we were the "skip to my lou" players

2009-02-11T10:10:00.003-05:00

I am on hold with Disney right now to add my flight information to my trip. They are the only company I don't mind holding for. Last week I was talking to the dinner reservation people and the guy was SO nice. Every time he was confirming a letter he'd be like "D as in Dumbo, E as in Eeyore" (etc, etc) and I was like... GIGGLE. Seriously. I am excited.

Over the weekend I went to UPTAs in Memphis to audition for a bunch of theatres. I was supposed to leave Charlottesville at about 1pm. We got on the plane but then they had us de-board because there was a screw stuck in one of the front tires. They had to call in people to assess the situation, which took about 45 minutes and then, since they couldn't fix it, they had to call another airport to send a jack down strong enough to lift up the plane which took about 2 hours of waiting and one hour of fixing. I was at the Charlottesville airport for FIVE HOURS before my plane was able to take off and it is NOT a big airport. There isn't even a real food place inside... I had to eat a bag of pretzels and a couple pieces of string cheese for lunch. We didn't get out of there until after another plane from charlottesville, on the same airline, had already left for Charlotte. I missed my original flight to Memphis and had to go on the later one, which didn't put me there until after 9pm, central. Worse things have happened, but I was REALLY ready to get out of the airport.

Saturday was my audition and I figured it was going to be an easy day. The auditions last until like 4pm but mine was at around 10:30am so I thought, once I was done, that I would be able to chill until the dance call at 5pm. I have never been more wrong in my life. Ali (I was staying with Ali and her girlfriend, Natalie) and I got back to the hotel and no callbacks from our group were up yet, so we went back to the room for like 20 minutes. I changed my clothes and then we went back down to check. I feel weird talking about this because I not only got more callbacks than I've ever gotten from a unified audition in my life, I'm pretty sure if you combined all my callbacks from OTAs over the years and UPTAs in 2007, you would still not reach this number. I was obviously HAPPY but then I realized that a lot of places were starting callbacks before the dance call (I thought they'd still be watching people audition--apparently they were not). I spent the first 45 minutes after writing them all down running around like a crazy person, trying to sign up for as many as I could. At one point I forgot we were in central time and I RAN back to the room to change into my dress, thinking I only had 15 minutes total, but I was wrong, I had an hour and 15 minutes. I changed, arranged my "callback itinerary" and started going to talk to people and/or do whatever they asked me to do. I was only able to sign up for 11 places. That was seriously the highest number I could manage without possessing the power to stop time, which I don't have (yet). This was less than half my callbacks and even with the 11 I signed up for, I could only make it to 9 of them. Some of them were places I've been interested in for a LONG time, some of them were new to me but I was still really interested in them, one of them I should have never gone to because the woman was the DEVIL. It was the most embarrassing callback ever and she was just one of those EVIL casting people who is completely all about appearance and ridiculousness with no concern for anyone but herself and I amost walked out of the callback more than one time. She was evil. I also got called back for two asian roles in the same company (the king's main wife in The King and I and the mean lady in Millie). I don't know what it is about me that is saying "asian" (the red hair? the fair skin with pink undertones?) but if I was offered those roles, you know, I'd take them. When would I get another chance to play Lady Thiang in The King and I? NEVER!

Anyway, between my callbacks there was also a dance call that went fine. I say "fine" because I did it perfectly (after practicing it for 30 minutes) but it was so easy that I doubt it mattered that I did it perfectly. Ah, the "movement" call. It was performed to the tune of "Skip to my Lou" and it was about1 minute long. In all reality, I loved it. There would have been no way I would have been able to do the real dancers routine. It was INTENSE. Not only was it intense, you also had half the time to practice, and, I would never have gotten it right. I'd rather be perfect with "Skip to my Lou" than to seriously mess up something in the REAL dancers dance call. Ali did the real dancers routine and the tap routine which means she had approximately no time to practice outside. Ali is an amazing dancer (she once broke her nose because she kicked too high). I am not. I should have added a pirouette into "Skip to my Lou", though. I can do some things really well in dance... I just can't do them altogether without ample practice time. Callbacks were posted again after the dance call, but I never had a free second to go down there to see if anyone added me (I REALLY DOUBT that they did anyway).

So, I was at callbacks until 10pm. Ali ordered pizza for us and thank God she did because the only time I had open to eat it was WHILE I was changing into my leotard. Not a good time to eat, but it was all I had. I was exhausted during the whole second half. Everyone was. There was a point when me and a couple others girls were waiting outside for this one place and we were just like... blobs. I was able to joke with a few of the casting people (whether they were directors, education people, whatever) which made me happy. There were a LOT of places I would like to work. I hope I get a job. Callbacks are nice but without any offers it doesn't matter. I got called back for Dollywood, but I wasn't able to get to the callback (that, and for Busch Gardens). I wish I would have. How COOL would it have been to work at Dollywood? I know that is some people's idea of Hell, but I bet you'd get to meet Dolly Parton and she seems like a NICE LADY.

The next morning I had to wake up at 4:15 to get to the airport for a 6am flight. I snuck out of the room, as not to disturb Ali and Natalie because they looked so peaceful, and went on my way. Luckily there were no flight delays and I got back on time at 10:48am. Ohhh. I was so tired. I was also so HUNGRY and Chris took me to McDonald's.

The NEXT day (Monday) Chris and I drove up to Silver Springs, MD so I could audition for the DC League auditions. I did the same package I did at UPTAs, wore the same dress, and also ran into my friend from the Huron Playhouse, Eileen Earnest. I hadn't seen her since 2004 at the latest, and she looked great. We were in the same group, too! At this audition you basically performed and then left. I was the first person in a long time to sing with accompianiment. For some reason a boy a few spots ahead of me sang "The Street Where You Live" a capella. I started wondering... if you are a singer in DC, you must not have that much competition, right? I still don't know the answer to that. The theatre was a very "dead" space... I felt like I was singing into a brick wall. It was also horriby dry. DEAD AND DRY, the best place to perform. So, I auditioned, a girl checking in the auditors said, "Congratulations!!!!!!" as I was leaving, and then I changed back into my regular clothes and we went back to Staunton, trying to find pet stores in NOVA along the way. We were successful... but they were either closed on Mondays or out of business. I just wanted to see some puppies. We saw a bunch being walked in Silver Springs. One had a stick in his mouth and he just looked so proud to be carrying that stick.

So, now I am DONE with auditions for now! HOOOOOORAY!!! It was fun for a while but I am really glad I don't have any for the foreseeable future. I feel like I've been waiting for these for so long. I registered for UPTAs in September or something! I would go again. I like UPTAs. I'll like it more if I get a job (or jobS) from it. If I don't, though, although maybe not OKAY, I will still not fret too much. I've still got YEARS until my prime casting age!

i have nothing to eat and no clean clothes!

2009-02-01T14:07:00.002-05:00

I think Chris is finally feeling better. He was pretty miserable all week long. I am so looking forward to being able to sleep in my bed again. The couch is fine but the bed is better.

I got my driver's license back this week! I had to re-take both the written and road test because it had been a year since it expired. I was more nervous than I have ever been in my LIFE! If I failed it would have been so embarrassing. I'm 26 and got my driver's license like 9 years ago. It would have been really stupid if I failed. Luckily I passed both and now I can drive a car and I feel so free. I drove and got just my bangs cut for $8 at my hair place and THEN I got an iced tea. Seriously, if you've been having someone else drive you around for the last year (when you were fortunate enough to be borrowing a car) and then you can suddenly do it yourself it feels AWESOME. Yesterday I drove all the way to Williamsburg (3 hours) for an audition. On the way back I stopped in Charlottesville for another audition. I was SO TIRED! Actually, okay, so I had a little bit of time in Charlottesville so I decided to buy some yoga pants mainly for the dance audition at this theatre. I knew, if I was just wearing tights and a leotard, that I would look ridiculously over-dressed (which is true: I would have). While I was in the dressing room I was so dizzy from not eating and driving 5 hours that... well... I don't know. I was just really dizzy. I can't think of any imagery to go along with that statement. Anyway, I was dizzy, but then I ate and I was better. Both auditions were fine... the dance audition was so funny. Yes, if you're auditioning for A Chorus Line or some other hugely dance-based musical, the dance call is probably going to be hard. It is NOT going to be hard for Oliver. When you think about it, it is just such a silly thing to do and an even sillier thing to get nervous over. I did make a friend at the auditions. Her name was Philena. We were like the only two people who didn't go to UVA at the dance call. I usually end up making friends in auditions or lines for things, which is funny to me because I generally think I look rather villainous since my hair is dark (dark hair = villain).

Today is the Super Bowl. I am happy that Jennifer Hudson will be singing. I hope she's okay. I know she isn't. She couldn't be. However, I hope that she is able to find things in her life to make her happy and that the rest of her life is tragedy free. Today is also PUPPY BOWL on the animal planet!!! That's gonna be a great game!!

The theatre made it's January goal of $250,000! Hooray!! Now we move on to what I consider the hard part: the next four months of $100,000 goals. These will only include donations and since I feel like everyone who is going to donate a lot of money already has already donated it's going to be hard. I just don't think the name is out there enough. I wish we could get on playbill.com. I don't know why we're not. I wish I had people donating money to ME. I'm a valuable resource, too.

Next weekend I am going to Memphis for the United Professional Theatre Auditions. I am staying with Ali, who I haven't seen in a year and a half, and I am EXCITED! I get back here on Sunday and on Monday I am going to the League of Washington Theatres auditions in Silver Springs, MD. There will be 96 theatres at UPTAs and like 50 at LOWTs so I really hope I get a job SOMEWHERE. If I don't... well... oh well, I guess. I have a lot of competition being an average height, white, belter. Given the fact that I am not a professional dancer doesn't do me any good, either. PLUS.... I'm not blonde. I could be blonde, but I decided I probably shouldn't be blonde again. I am funny, though... and I CAN play the guitar. I can also sing a song in ANY KEY. I am a valuable resource if not, maybe, unique upon first appearance.

die, vampire, die!

2009-01-27T23:05:00.004-05:00

Things that have happened in the last week:

We officially got a new president
I went to work
We booked our honeymoon at DISNEY WORLD!
I started updating the wedding blog again
Chris got the flu
I've been sleeping on the couch

I luckily didn't have to work on inauguration day until 1:30pm so I got to watch the whole thing. It was great. I think I cried.

My friend/boss guy, Jay, made me a CD which has, among other things, the cast recording of [Title of Show] and it is REALLY GOOD. It's funny. I like funny. I want to be in it. Oh, sheesh, I just want to be in a musical.

WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN MAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE GOING THERE IN 98 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS ALSO MEANS WE'RE EITHER GETTING MARRIED IN 97 OR 95 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!! There's probably a lot to do. I might actually get favors. I found some I like. I wonder if we can afford it.

Chris is really sick. He's had a fever over 100 for the last day. His first preview of Henry 6 part 1 is on Thursday... and he's Talbot. That's a BIG ROLE! He has his biggest role of the season and he's got the flu just in time for the last rehearsals and the opening. I am afraid I am going to get sick, too, which is selfish of me, yes, but I'm supposed to have 2 auditions on Saturday and I'm going to UPTAs next weekend in Memphis. Now is not the time for me to get the flu either. If I DO get the flu, I will still go to, at least, the closer of the 2 auditions and just be all shivering and sweating at the same time while belting my face off.

The couch is relatively comfortable. I can't sleep in my bed because it's all germy from flu-boy. The biggest problem is that my knees start hurting halfway through the night. I'm afraid the couch is probably all germy, too, now, since Chris was laying on it all day, but at least he wasn't sleeping and sweating so much he had to change his shirt (like he's doing right now. Thank you, NyQuil). I can't wait to do laundry.

i want to work on a cruise ship

2009-01-18T12:37:00.002-05:00

It's cold everywhere in the east and my apartment is like the number 1 coldest place. I lined all the windows with clothes I was going to take to goodwill but it's hardly making a difference. We had to turn the gas on (even though our gas bill for November/December was $216 for a ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT! It's not like we even had it on that much--we were out of town for a week, too), the space heater has been following us from room to room, the windows are completely frosted over every morning, I even sleep with a hat on! It's cold. I can't wait until it's just a little bit warmer so that it's not freezing in here. We come home after work and it's 50 degrees in the living room.

This week "The Revenger's Tregedy" opened at the theatre and it's disturbing and messed up and hilarious in how macabre it is and the music is awesome and I actually really liked it a lot. It is not for everyone, though... in fact, if someone were to ask me, would say it's not for anyone under 17. There were two kids there on Friday night... one about 10 and the other 7. The grandparents came in that morning and asked if the show was appropriate for them, Jen said no, they asked what it was about, she told them and then the kids BEGGED to go. Apparently it was mentioning the skull that made them want to go. After the first intermission the grandmother was, I thought, moving the kids off the stage, but they came back to their seats on stage after the intermission was over. The kids were really into it and the grandparents didn't seem TOO concerned... although I do wonder, if it would have been their parents, if they would have felt the same. I mean, come on, a guy rapes a skeleton. That is definitely not for all people, let alone kids.

I had a good time at my parents' house. It snowed a ton on Saturday the 10th, so much so that it took my sister and I 3 hours to drive from Huron to my grandma's house (normally an 1.5 at the most). My dad took me to an audition the next day for TB's summer theatre... and he forgot about the audition and was 45 minutes late. It was pretty funny. I was sad to go back here, but happy to see Chris. His dad was in town the day I got back, too, and he bought us dinner. Then I had to go back to work, but it's been okay. I'm bartending almost every show and I really do like to bartend. Plus, I get to watch at least half the show... and that means lots of SKULLS! The're actually doing a song called "Skulls" by the Misfits and listen... it's messed up, but it's also really cool. If you know this song (which I'm sure you don't) it doesn't really sound like the original.... but it does sound better. You feel strange when you have lyrics like "and the blood drains down like devil's rain/ we'll bathe tonight" stuck in your head. Those guys ARE misfits!!

The Survive and Thrive campaign at the theatre has been going pretty well. Ben had the great idea to stand in the lobby after the show and collect donations which is REALLY working. He gives a pretty amazing speech during the pre-show, too. Last night we made about $300 in small donations that people dropped into his hat and a couple bigger donations that were mailed to the theatre. There was also a fundraising event at one of the wineries, so hopefully that brought in some money. I sure hope they make the January goal! I don't want to be out on the street.

Other than that, not too much has been going on. A TON will be going on the 31st- Feb 9th, but right now... not too much. I really need to get my bangs cut. They can hardly be considered bangs anymore.

i brought my high fiber bread with me to ohio

2009-01-06T16:29:00.003-05:00

The last thing to happen in 2008: I was too sick to go out and do anything so we stayed home and watched WALL-E. In an effort to save money on our ridiculous gas bill, we bought a cheap space heater (seriously cheap. It only cost me $15 since it was 50% off this store that was going out of business). Our apartment is hella old and it's really easy to blow a fuse... which of course happened, at about 10pm. The fuse box is in our neighbor's apartment in the basement. He didn't come home until the next day. We had no power to ring in the new year. (We did finish watching the movie in Scot's apartment downstairs because he wasn't home, but they don't have cable so I was watching a wall clock to know when it turned midnight. Also, Chris fell asleep on their couch and I kept trying to wake him up saying, "You can't sleep on other people's couches!" His sleepy response was, "If I sleep here they'll give me free transportation for a year.")

Sooooo... the year didn't end without one more punch. However, the next day, when we finally got our power back, our landlord came to look at our sink problem (we had no running water in the kitchen for like 2 weeks) and he got us a new faucet which is AWESOME! It's tall enough so that you can actually fit stuff in the sink, the water pressure is so good it's amazing (especially when you know, like I do, how ridiculous it was before. It took 30 seconds to fill up a glass of water!) and it has one of those spray thingys which I love. I never minded doing dishes except at this apartment because it took sooooo long. Now it's a breeze again and I am so thankful!

Chris and the rest of the renaissance troupe opened Midsummer on Friday, after starting rehearsals on Tuesday. No director, no designer and 2 days to put it together. It is the funniest show I've ever seen here. I know what happens in this play. It is not unfamiliar to me. I laughed so hard that I was crying and sweating, sitting in my seat. That should not be the case with a show you really know. It's really funny. I wish everyone I know could see it. It is just so impressive that they had such a small amount of time and so much work to do and it's still this good.

On Saturday night after the show, we started watching Christina's dog for her. This dog is super cute and super sweet.... but please, take notice. If you are ever dog sitting, do not get the dog at night. The dog needs time to get used to his or her surroundings... and to freak out that her owners are not there for a while. Poor Bella freaked out until about 3am. The minute they left she started looking for them and crying... later the crying and desperation became howling. At like 2:45am she let out one last, ear piercing howl and then she went to bed with us. In the morning she was fine and she was fine the whole next day. I'm sure she is still fine... but man. She was really sad. At least she didn't blame us. She reacted towards us more like "PLEASE HELP ME FIND THEM!!!!!" rather than "WHERE DID YOU TAKE MY PARENTS!?!?"

Yesterday I woke up at 3:45am for my 6am flight to Cleveland, via Detroit. The plane from Charlottesville to Detroit was a prop plane! I don't know if I've ever flown in one of those before... maybe once. It's been a long time since I've flown. A long time for ME, anyway, who has flown over 100 times (that's a lot for a non-business person, right? Most of those have happened in the last 8 years, t00). I got really annoyed with the liquid carry-on thing. I had an unopened bottle of contact solution which they made me break the seal on and then test to make sure it was actually contact solution. Uhhh... it was sealed. They also didn't let me take on this one small bottle of face moisturizer... but my OTHER moisturizer, which I had forgotten about in my purse, didn't get checked at all. That's dumb. Anyway, I'm in Ohio now and I am happy about it, although I do miss Chris. Yesterday the company told everyone that their summer/fall contracts were not going to start until the end of May instead of the first week of April. They were supposed to only have a week off and now they have two months. I don't know what we're going to do in this time span. It's not long enough to get another job but it's definitely long enough to totally screw you financially if you're only able to get unemployment. Ugh.... I don't know. Maybe I should just move to NYC in April and he can have actor housing when his contract finally DOES start. I don't have any money to move to NYC in April... but I might be able to make it work... somehow. MAN. This sucks. It's so stupid that we don't have ANY wedding plans because we have no idea how we're going to pay for anything. Chris was hoping he'd be able to save enough money from the summer/fall contract to be able to pay for at least a honeymoon (in disneyworld. at the cheapest hotel). I feel like we should just get married in April. Just come up here when the renaissance season ends and get married at the courthouse. I mean, I don't see a reason to postpone it until next January (the original time we imagined would be the first time available). It's not like we'll magically have money then. This is depressing. I never envisioned a big wedding... but I didn't envision a courthouse wedding, either.

Sigh... anyway... despite that news, 2009 has started off pretty well (knock on wood). I feel more optimistic for some reason. Maybe because I'm in denial. Who knows.

the worst year ever, in review

2008-12-31T13:39:00.004-05:00

I decided to do a year in review because I have nothing to do at work and a lot of time to sit here, doing nothing.

At the beginning of the year, I had high hopes for 2008. I was on tour with the ASC and having a great time. I got to go to some places that I would never, ever want to go to again (Fairmont, WV and that horrible, smelly place in Illinois) and a few places that I think of literally every single day of my life (Sarasota and the Florida Keys). Let me tell ya, there is nothing like a breezy 85 degrees in the beginning of February at night right next to the ocean. Oh my God. I miss Islamorada SO MUCH!!!

In March we went to Minneapolis for a couple of days and VA Beach (which was a nice area although it wasn't warm enough to GO to the beach) and our last stop on tour was the greatest hotel ever, in Rockville, MD. Chris and I went to DC for a day and that night I started watching Jon and Kate Plus 8. I realize this is a stupid MILESTONE, but I like the kids. They're funny. The biggest thing, of course, to happen in March, was at 12:01am on the 28th, right after Chris's birthday ended, when he proposed to me. The next day we went running, picked out a ring and then had to wait for a week before we could tell anyone, because the ring was getting resized (I have tiny fingers). I did, however, tell my friend Ben, and he was SO EFFING EXCITED!!!

In April we opened in residence at the theatre performing The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice and Henry V. I was also, finally, able to tell everyone that we were engaged and that was great fun for me. I LOVED telling people. It was one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me. NOW it's all old news... but THEN it was AWESOME! :) I remember April was a very environmentally-aware month for everyone in the world. "Being green" was HUGE and I wish that the economical mess wouldn't have trumped that state of mind.

In May I watched a lot of American Idol, performed 8 shows a week, went to Ohio for, like, 1 day, and went to Kings Dominion amusement park (which was fun because of the water park. The roller coasters were only so-so).

We closed our shows on June 15th and I had to say goodbye to many wonderful people (LIKE RAFFI!!!!). The next day Chris and I moved into our own apartment where we will stay until... March. At least, I guess. The apartment is super cute, despite having no water or counter space in the kitchen and limited hot water in the bathroom. I also started working in the box office here at the theatre to try and save some money for... you know... my life.

In July I started getting depressed over working in the box office. I eventually realized it was a mixture of being sad that my troupe was no longer together and because I was too close to the performing without doing it myself. I never got to go anywhere because I worked all day and there was nothing to do in Staunton. The entire summer was not a good time for me.

HOWEVER, it was over the summer that I ended up losing 15 pounds. I couldn't believe it because my activity level had decreased so much since my shows closed. A mixture of eating TONS of fiber (usually around 40 grams a day), cutting my sugar waaaaay back (giving up regular pop) and upping the amount of protein I was eating. All my pants stopped fitting so I kept having to buy new pants, which was totally annoying.

October was my birthday month and I threw a huge party for Halloween. It was great and October was relatively painless.

November started out good, with the Obama win, but it gradually fell apart, with my dad getting laid off from work and the theatre telling us they might not be able to make payroll for the last paycheck of the month. December was worse: the theatre laid off 5 full time positions (including mine... I got dropped to part time), dropped all but 2 equity contracts (including Chris's) and is now begging the world for $200,000 by January 31st... or else. Or else WHAT, I'm not exactly sure, but I can't assume it's a good thing. So, you know, if you have any extra money and don't want me and Chris to be completely jobless as of February 1st, please consider donating to the ASC. They do some good stuff. And if you want an example of HOW GOOD, watch this video.

The good thing in December was getting to perform the pre-show for Santaland Diaries with my friend, Chris Johnston. We played 5 songs, 3 from Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album ("Hey Guys! It's Christmas time!", "Come on, Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!", and "Get Behind Me, Santa!") one called "Have Yourself a Bitter Little Christmas" by David Ford and "The Hat" by Ingrid Michaelson. My guitar playing has improved so much that I was able to accompany myself at a regional theatre with only one other person. I've never had a lesson and have only owned the guitar for 2 years! We had so much fun doing this show and even though I got hella sick at the end of the run, it was some of the best music I've ever done.

Now it's December 31st and there are only 8 hours left in the year. I just found out my Uncle Rudy died today, as if the year couldn't haven't gotten any worse. At the end of 2007 I was very sad to see it go... but 2007 was a great year. 2008 has sucked. MOST of the year was bad. I haven't been more excited to see a new year in a long time, if ever. If nothing else, it can't be much worse. BRING IT ON, 2009!!!!

i still like starbucks better than any other coffee shop

2008-12-29T12:21:00.003-05:00

The week was crazy but the week is over. I still don't have a day off until Thursday but at least I can just sit here and do nothing for hours. If only I could come in at... like... noon and sit here and do nothing for hours. I worked more than 12 hours a day both Friday and Saturday. Every other day was 8-10 hours (depending on how much laundry I did) in split shifts, all days with my only break being to perform a show in the middle. I'm tired. I wish the touring troupe was still here. They were a lot of fun. They're on break now and then they'll go back on the road until April.

Christmas was fun. We went to Dan and Alex's for dinner and watched a marathon of Dogs 101 on the animal planet when we got home. The night before this guy who works for the theatre threw his annual Christmas dinner for people stuck in town and we got to take home all the extra turkey. Chris and I only exchanged stockings but inside mine I received WALL-E which was cool. I do love that movie. Mainly, Christmas was a day for relaxing and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I got sick on Friday. The sickness was, and still is, contained only in my throat. It doesn't hurt (except when I wake up) but it's totally mucusy and once in a while I'll have a bad coughing fit. This was bad timing to get sick since I still had 3 shows left of Santaland. Yesterday I was doing will-call tickets for Carol and coughed my face off. I knew that I would have problems singing. In the song "Come on! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" I belt really high at the end. I don't know how high because I'm playing it on the guitar and not piano, but I'd say it's somewhere in the high F-G range. As I was singing I'm feeling my throat start to tickle and I'm thinking, "I have to get through these next couple measures and then I can cough. Also, if I can do this, it will be a miracle." I cut the last note short but I got through it and then I coughed and coughed through the ride out of the song and probably messed up the guitar because of it. Then I had to do the actual pre-show speech which was what made me almost lose my voice the last two days. I drank some water, popped a Halls into my mouth and coughed my way through it. Apparently it was charming. Anyway, I am sad to not be doing it anymore. I had so much fun with Johnston and now I just have the box office and that is NOT fun. Even though I was paid what can only be described as a "stipend" for doing it, it was the best thing to happen since June. Goodbye, Santaland.

I am going home in a week! I am happy. I will miss Chris but he'll be really busy anyway so he'll be ok. This will be the first time I've travelled without him since May 2007 (and we have travelled A LOT since then being on tour and living in the same town and all). It will be the longest I've been away from him since we stopped being long distance, too. AWWWWWW. But, yes, I am very excited.

The weather has been really nice lately and it makes me want spring for real, even though it's still December. It also makes me want Chipotle. The closest one is 45 miles away. Boo. Maybe I'll go to the cheap replacement, Qdoba instead. That's only 30 miles away. DAMNIT, Virginia! You suck so much.

my search for christmas

2008-12-22T11:18:00.002-05:00

This last week was so incredibly long and this coming week will be even longer. Most of the week my day went like this: do laundry in the costume shop, work in the box office, do preshow, work in the box office, do laundry. After the matinees this weekend I would be working the gift shop, run into the theatre and start picking up trash, run backstage and move our seats and bells into place (the turnover is really fast between the end of the Carol matinee and the start of our preshow), run downstairs and throw the whites into the washing machine, go back upstairs and finish working the gift shop.

Next week there are only 3 of us left on staff... which means we are working literally the entire day. I will work from 9am-10:30pm the 26th - 28th just in the box office. There is only one hour of time where I will not be working, and that is from 4-5 when I am doing the preshow. We can't even take lunch breaks because there is no one to cover them. Why is it like this, you might ask? Because they fired or moved our employees into the positions of other fired employees right before the busiest season of the year and two people went on vacation. Now, the people who went on vacation... I mean, good for them. If I could leave, I'd go away too. But the firing and moving of employees just baffles me. Why now?? You could't wait THREE WEEKS? I mean, what if I would have said, "You're taking away my full time position??? Screw you! I'm not taking that kind of pay cut!!!!" and stormed off? They would have been left with TWO PEOPLE to run a business open from 9am-10:30pm that has 600+ people coming in and out of it a day.

Sigh.... so, as my dad said, "at least you're working." This is true. A lot of people are not working these days (my dad included). My mom slipped on some ice the other day and twisted her ankle. She has broken this ankle I think 3 times since 1999. My dad sent me a picture mail over the phone of her bruised and bloody foot. Thank you, dad.

I still can't make it feel like Christmas and I don't understand why. I am singing and playing Christmas songs every day, I hear Christmas music several times a day, I am right on the other side of the wall when Scrooge blesses everyone with the spirit of Christmas or whatever... I've watched my fair share of weird Christmas Carol adaptations. I have a tree (with butterflies on it!) and stockings hung on the fire place. It's even COLD today!!! And yet... it's December 22nd and it might as well be August 22nd. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that I'm miserable. Lots of people are miserable at Christmas. I don't think it has anything to do with the lack of presents to give or receive.... that has happened several times, now. WHERE ARE YOU, CHRISTMAS?? I really do miss Christmas. I wish I could feel Christmasy.

Ugh. So, yes. I am miserable. Well, I've been under a lot of stress, you know? I already take things personally but now I am REALLY taking them personally. Chris decided to take that non-equity contract here. I'm not happy about it. I KNOW it was my idea in the first place but... I don't know... I guess I didn't think he'd make the decision SO SOON. I thought he'd actually REALLY think about it for a while instead of making the choice in about 5 minutes out of fear. He gets housing back which basically means I have to move away alone (if he takes actor housing) because they won't let me live there. There is MAYBE one other thing that could happen... they could give him an extra stipend or something to cover his half of the rent at our apartment. I would have to cover my half... but then I'd be stuck here. What if I got a job somewhere else? One of us would have to pay the other half of the rent (whether I was living here or not). I don't know what to do and it's making me crazy.

And I need to choose a song, a monologue and a dress. Soon.

i feel like i'm working summer stock

2008-12-15T11:16:00.003-05:00

Thankfully, I was able to take over Emily's job in the costume shop. This probably sucks for Jenny because now she'll be re-training someone for everything, but I have never minded a costume shop. A long, long time ago I worked in the one at Kent. I promptly forgot everything I learned as soon as I left, but I relearned it a year later when I worked, for a week, mainly in the Huron Playhouse costume shop. I even made a whole pair of pants in there. They were Dan's in this weird Indian dance in Annie Get Your Gun and one night they totally split down the middle. I don't know if this was my fault, his, or both of ours, but it sure was funny. I took a long hiatus from costuming, but I was one of 2 costume people on our tour last year. Costuming and Props are the two worst jobs on tour and I had both of them. Both jobs involved a lot of cleaning up after other people and not knowing things were broken until <2 hours before a show starts.

So, I'm back, costume world. I can listen to music in the shop and if I had any hobbies anymore I could do those, too. I was trying to relearn how to use a sewing machine last night. After 6 or so attempts, I finally gave up. I think I will like the costume shop way better than the box office. What I already do not like is having to work a 12 hour day to make up the pay cut I got. I did laundry from 10:30-12, then I worked in the box office from 12-4, then I had Santaland from 4-5, then I went home for an hour and ate a microwaved Weight Watchers "Smart Ones" and then I went back from 6:30-11 to do more laundry. This was just yesterday. What is worse about this day is that yesterday was supposed to be my day off. Today I am ACTUALLY taking the day off. Hooray. I didn't sleep very well last night, but at least I have no further responsibilities. My other day off this week was supposed to be Friday but I'm already working in the box office from 6-9:30 and I'll probably need to come in before Santaland to do laundry.

I don't have insurance anymore so I guess I better not get sick. I never even got to use my dental insurance. I'm sure, based on how things have been going, that now I will get sick AND chip a tooth or something.

Chris is currently at an audition at the Barter Theatre. He hasn't auditioned anywhere except here in 5 years. Even when he worked at Porthouse with me he didn't have to audition. He said he was pretty nervous but that it went well. We had both talked about going down there when they had this call but after I saw the season I was kind of like "ehhh" and never made an audition time. Chris didn't either, but since he is equity he can just stroll right in and they HAVE to see him. If there's any perk to being equity, that's it. Well, that and the better pay. And the not having to work more than 8 hours a day. And only having to be an actor, not an actor/slave laborer. (You'd be surprised how many theatres can get their non-equity actors to do this.) ANYWAY, he is considering take a non-equity contract here, but I don't know. I mean, it was my idea in the first place for him to find out about it, but it's just so depressing here. I don't think I can watch more people that I love lose their jobs and the rest of us have to work 12-hour days to make up for it. Plus, you know, *I* don't want to lose my job. If we left and went somewhere else, people would still be losing their jobs, but at least I wouldn't know them. It's harder when it's everyone you know. So..... I just don't know. I mean, for right now, we have jobs through March. My biggest fear is that Christmas is going to be HUGE at all the theatres in the country doing anything even remotely Christmas-y. People WILL spend extra money to be able to go and enjoy themselves.... but then the January numbers will be lower than they've ever been at every arts center in the world and it won't get better until people have jobs again and can afford to do things. Who KNOWS how long that will be. I am afraid a lot more theatres will have to close and even if you have a job lined up for whenever, you never know if it'll be taken away from you or even if you start a season and the theatre is forced to close in the middle of it.

Chris and I have decided to celebrate Christmas in January because of our money problems. I guess we're leaving up our decorations until then. This month has not felt even in the slightest way like it is Christmas, so it's no big deal. I miss Christmas. I wish it felt like Christmas.

In much, much better news, the preshow for Santaland starring me and Johnston is awesome. So far, we have had only minor playing screw-ups, one broken string and we seem to be more funny than annoying (knock on wood!!!) which is all I can ask for. Yesterday I realized a few things:
A. I am very high strung ("MY PICK FELL IN THE GUITAR!!!!!!!!!!!!"; or the fact that I actually screamed when Johnston broke the string)
B. Almost everything I say is improv'd. If, while speaking and making everything I say up, I can pronounce a multi-syllable word without adding extra letters, syllables or just tripping all over the entire phrase, I consider my life a success.
C. You can't sing soprano and chew gum at the same time. You can, however, chew gum, sing in your belt, and play guitar at the same time.
D. Johnston and I should start a vaudeville act because we work really well together, we harmonize really well together AND he is the George Burns to my complete Gracie Allen-ism.
E. I don't think vaudeville is still happening

SOOOO!! It's been so much fun and I was only half kidding when I told the audience yesterday, "This is the only joy I have in my life right now." I still have my Chris, so it is one of two joys. Speaking of my Chris, he takes over the role on Friday. John has had some really great audiences so I hope they continue for Chris. Oh.. hahaha... I did hear, however, that someone walked out during the middle of the show yesterday, offended, told the box office that "[i'm] going to shut this place down!" and walked back into the theatre to see the end of the show. I mean, first of all, I tell them during the preshow that it is an offensive show and that if they are offended, do NOT tell the box office (because the box office doesn't care). And secondly, he's going to shut us down???? Not if we get to us first, man!

worst week ever, this is not hyperbole

2008-12-09T21:37:00.002-05:00

First there was my dad getting laid off on Thursday...

On Monday I heard through the grapevine that 4 people had been laid off in the main offices of our theatre.

On Tuesday the 5 or so people left in the main offices kept being really nice to me and asking if I was okay. It did not take me very long to piece together that my position was going to be eliminated. This was confirmed... luckily they want to keep me on part time. I mean, I had no choice. I could have completely screwed them over and left them with 3 people to run the box office, but I need the money. So, my pay cut is pretty extreme. I am HOPING that there may be a part time position in the costume shop that I can take as well... but that might have been eliminated, too.

While I was in my "official" meeting telling me I'm getting my pay cut by $2.50/hr (AND my hours are cut), Chris was in a meeting with the artistic director who told him that they needed to eliminate the Equity contracts. If they get rid of ALL of them they can never get them back so they're probably keeping a few... Chris is not included in that list. He's been here longer than the people who will probably get to keep them, but his is still gone. ACTUALLY, he would have had more seniority than all but 1 other actor in the company. 5 years and the most rewarding artistic experience of his life and instead of being able to leave on his own terms like he was going to at the end of next fall, now he is unemployed as of April 1st.

I mean, unless he takes a non-equity contract out of desperation, we have to move. We don't have any MONEY to move, but there is nothing for us here. I don't know that any theatre is in a good situation right now... but we can't stay in this awful town. I don't know what to do. As long as we have friends we have a place to live for a while... I just can't believe this is happening. I mean, theatre, as a whole, will survive. It's survived EVERYTHING. I just have to wonder if it will be a career or just a hobby for the rest of my life.

... and if I am going to be miserable because of that for the rest of my life.

so sleepy at 3pm

2008-12-07T13:43:00.003-05:00

The summer/fall season is closing right now at the theatre. Well, it was a good run. All the shows were popular and good so great job, everyone! Next week is the beginning of the madness. Well, okay, next week is actually going to be okay but the two weeks after that are going to be AWFUL. Two people are going on vacation for two weeks and Johnston and I won't be available from 4-5 any day because of Santaland. We are ridiculously short staffed for this month. And THEN... Johnston's last day is the 23rd and Emily will be gone the day before and after Christmas. It will be the 3 full time people working ONLY! I think we have something like 12 hour days for that week. It is not going to be fun at all. My only salvation will be getting to do this preshow.

So, speaking of the preshow, it will be fun for me. Today I was using Alyssa's guitar (it's a smaller guitar and I wanted to get a feel for it to see if I should get a short-scale guitar, too) and on the last song my capo was pulling the strings down (which I didn't see until, like, the end) and we were waaaaaay off tune. It sounded so bad. Luckily, this was just a dress rehearsal so it's not like it really mattered, but I still don't like that. I had been using Chris's guitar, which is a JUMBO guitar, and it has been hard for me to reach the end of the neck, really heavy and it also makes my right arm go numb from sitting over it. My guitar is better for me, but it's been here at our apartment and it's too cold to walk it down to the theatre. I'll be taking it down there before Tuesday of course, but I still think I might need a 3/4 length or something. I think that's why I play all my songs on the 3rd fret-- because it's hard for me to REACH the normal positions. I've been looking more and more at the Daisy Rock guitars online. I'm not in the market to buy a new guitar any time soon, but when I am, I really think I'd like to get a Daisy Rock. The body and neck are a lot thinner so they're easier for people with small hands to play. PLUS, they come in great colors and/or designs and one of the models comes with DECALS!!!! You know I love decals.

Anyway, again, yes, Santaland will be fun. Playing music has been the only thing to really get my mind off of some troubling events happening lately. Most of our songs sound really good and the ones that aren't really good are still good (except when the capo is pulling down on the strings. Then it's just... not good). I have a lot of fun with Johnston and I have more fun with the fact that I don't really have to censor myself with the preshow because nothing I say will be worse than what is already written in to the real script. My Chris told me he's really impressed with how much I've improved and how effortlessly I am able to sing while playing. I only received that guitar 2 years ago, I've never had a lesson and here I am, accompanying myself at a regional theatre. I mean, I'm no Chris JOHNSTON, but I'm doing alright. :)

So, on Thursday my dad wrote my siblings and I to tell us he got laid off. This is not good. My dad can't just get a job anywhere. He's got a bad heart condition (his first surgery was in his 20s and he's had many since then) so it's not like he can be doing any kind of lifting or being on his feet all day. Plus, you know, he's 56 years old... and then is the fact that there are no jobs anywhere to begin with. Ugh... it's really not good. Chris is really upset about it because he thinks my dad is like the nicest guy ever. My mom cried. I don't want them to move. I really love Huron and they have such a nice view. My dad really likes being able to watch the Lake from our living room. You know how some people are happy to be laid off because they can go on vacation or whatever? We're not those people. It's not good.

Times are tough. It's cold outside. I'd actually go back to the theatre and watch the end of Richard if it weren't so cold. Last night I finally watched the beginning of Close Encounters and I have so many unanswered questions. That kid is really adorable, though. That must be why the aliens abducted him.

I'm really in to the most recent Death Cab for Cutie album. I'm also really in to the idea that John Lennon, George Harrison, John Entwistle and Keith Moon play as "The Whotles" in Heaven.

i'm watching the tree lighting on nbc!

2008-12-03T18:54:00.003-05:00

I love Thanksgiving. I am so happy it exists. Chris and I left for Ohio last Monday, drove in Ginna's car to Bethesda, MD, picked UP Ginna, and then drove to Columbus for the night and Chris's mom picked us up on Tuesday morning. My sister got in late that night and we had my family's dinner on Wednesday, as we always do. My brother told us how he's either going to go to China or Chile to teach English as a second language and I guess he is going to Germany next year for some course before he graduates. That's CRAZY! I wish I could go... abroad.

On Thanksgiving proper I went to Chris's mom's house for deep fried turkey (if you are offered this TRY IT!! It is so effing good!) and then to his dad's side where I met, or at least saw, the 41 family members that were there and that I had never met before. Chris's grandma had 8 children (she's Catholic) and they've all got kids... and some of them have kids, now, too. So, anyway, I had only met only 3 people from that side and 38 more was a little overwhelming.

Unfortunately we had to leave on Friday but we were able to take our time and stop by my Grandma's house. I was so happy to go home, though. I hate being so far away from my family. It makes me really sad.

Sigh... so, on Saturday I was back to work. There is a Santaland dress on Friday and Sunday of this week (first preview is next Tuesday) so Johnston and I have been working a lot on music. We have 6 songs... some of them are better than others but they are all coming along really well. I've gotten so much better at guitar (than I was in June)! It's a good thing I practiced so much over the summer because we've been playing for like 2 hours during our rehearsals. I would have never been able to do it if I wouldn't have been practicing... my fingers would have hurt waaaaay too much.

Last night Chris invited our friends Pasha, Rick and Dennis over for wings and... Guy Time, I guess. They ate homemade chicken wings and watched Ocean's 11 and Boogie Nights. I, of course, emailed my 10-page play, Boogie Knights to Pasha and Dennis because... well, how could I not? It was my best achievement in life. A play about a time travelling knight who wants to learn roller disco. Brills. They had fun and it was ridiculously hot in the living room because of the oven and the guys.

I am watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 and they are at Disney World and I am crying. This episode is old and it was the first one I ever saw. It's actually why I started watching this show, even though the kids go nuts and Kate yells a LOT.... but still. It's DISNEY WORLD!!!! If I could say there were only two true good things in this entire world those two things would be Disney and Christmas. I don't care... it is just FANTASY at Disney! I love it.

On Monday Chris and I went on a little date! We weren't planning it... we never, ever get out so I suggested we get some coffee. We had coffee and some cake at the coffee shop... then we walked around downtown. We came home for an hour or so then went back out and got some pizza and then went to see Rachel Getting Married at the Visulite. During the dancing at the wedding Chris said, "these people are eclectic!!" Yes.... yes they were. I think it was good although it's not the type of movie you feel good or stand up and cheer after. I would have applauded the seats at the theatre, though... they were AWESOME.

Listen... did anyone else watch that Britney Spears thing on Sunday night? I know my die-hard Britney fans did... but did other people? I'm just kind of proud of her. If she can keep herself out of trouble than I think she can be forgiven for going nuts. I would have hated it if everything I did during a break up was on the NEWS. Plus, you know, she lost all that weight by basically giving up sugar. *I* basically gave up sugar and lost a bunch of weight, too. That and all the fiber I eat. But anyway, Britney Spears is no longer the worst thing in the world and I say, good for her!

this might be the year i hate christmas

2008-11-23T12:20:00.003-05:00

This has been such a mixed week. Alyssa had a sore throat last weekend and she and Greg asked if I would sing her music for Lear and Measure again (which of course I did). Last Friday was Lear and at about 6:45pm (show starts at 7:30) Greg came up and asked if I would sing at intermission. I was the house manager that night but luckily Solomon didn't mind if I left for a little while. There was also a proposal on stage that night AND my friend/Playhouse Manager, Nash, was fired. We were all pretty upset about this happening. He's such a cool guy that he took it all in stride, but I don't know anyone who was happy about it.

I guess the rest of the weekend was okay... I sang again on Sunday, Johnston and I started a couple new songs for Santaland preshow and Monday I had off. Tuesday things started falling apart with one of our reports (and our box office manager is on vacation), Thursday was the all-time worst day I've ever had at a job. Our school matinee was oversold by about 30 students and we had 50 standing. It was SO HOT in the theatre and there were literally kids everywhere--sitting on the banisters in the balcony (we had to get them off), in the aisles, some just sat in the lobby for half the show. Emily and I both had to sell drinks at the intermissions and we don't have enough staff anymore to have someone else in the box office so Kristie had to be at the gift shop (and she doesn't even work in the box office) while Mary, whose last day was a week ago (and who also hadn't worked in the box office in about 6 months) came in to help for free. Then, in the middle of the show, all this beer got delivered and then 7 boxes of t-shirts for me to inventory, fold and put away. As soon as the show got out I had to go talk to tech support for the problem we were having with our reports but I had NO IDEA what to do because I don't know any of the information they needed. I kept having to call other people to ask questions and get info. It was so stupid. When Christina got in she was on the phone with tech support and I had to start the t-shirt inventory. I couldn't take a lunch and I was there for half an hour longer than I was scheduled and I was so sad and tired. I had to finish the shirts the next day (which started out as a GREAT day and then ended up just as stupid and ridiculous as the day before, in a completely different way).

So, yesterday, my Chris, Johnston, his fiance Lindsey and I all did this silly caroling thing in downtown for the Holiday Open House. We dressed in costumes from Christmas Carol and sang very religious carols (and some not-so religious carols) and all of this was happening a week before Thanksgiving. It was freezing outside but Chris and I bought long underwear and we had a ton of layers on from the costume so except for everyone's toes, we were mainly okay. We sang for about 2 hours and then I couldn't speak in anything but my head voice again. It was fine, though... no one made fun of us and children seemed to like it. We saw Doreen, JP and baby Olive and Olive was starring at us like her life depended on it.

This week has been really cold and we can't use the heater in our bedroom because it just doesn't work right. You have to turn it up really high and then it will only run for a little while and then it will click for HOURS. I can't deal with the clicking at night so we just stopped using it. So, obviously, it's really cold in our bedroom. Like 60 degrees in the daytime, colder at night. It also doesn't get much sunlight so it never gets a chance to be warm. We need a space heater but we can't afford one. We also can't run our humidifer because it's a cool mist and it makes it even colder.

I bought my Christmas tree this week. I got it for $25 from Target. It's not very big but I think it will be okay. I want to do blue, silver and gold/"champagne" ornaments only. We set it up but it's just sitting in the corner where the guitars used to be until we get back from Ohio on Friday. I won't start really decoarting it YET... although I will start listening to Christmas music as soon as i-tunes finishes installing the new version.

Tonight is the usher/actor Thanksgiving and I am really excited!! I know the ushers a lot better from working in the box office and in all honesty, that has been the only rewarding part of working in the box office. So many of them are just nice and funny people who are really supportive of the theatre. I like them a lot.

We are leaving tomorrow for OHIO! Thank God. We're driving Ginna's car up to Bethesda, picking her up from her last stop on tour for this leg, driving to Columbus, staying at her parent's house for the night and then Chris's mom will pick us up in the morning on Tuesday. This way we are able to only have to rent a car to get back to Virginia and save some money but I do wish we could have left today after the matinee and get in really late instead of getting in on Tuesday. Originally the Thanksgiving break seemed a lot longer. We have to leave on Friday but we can go at a reasonable time and still stop by and visit my Grandma. I won't be able to go home for Christmas (the reason why isn't even worth it anymore) so I'll have to make the best out of Thanksgiving.

I'm just loads of joy right now. Well, I did have a conversation that went like this today:

Chris: Are you quackers for crackers?
Me: No
Chris: Are you crackers for quackers?
Me: No.
Chris: Are you crackers for crackers?
Me: No.
Chris: Are you quackers for quackers?
Me: No.
Chris: What if I'm a quacker?
Me: YOU'RE NOT A QUACKER, YOU'RE A DOG!

finally blogging

2008-11-14T11:54:00.009-05:00

So it's been almost two weeks and I guess I was busy. It sure would seem that way based on how I have just been unable to find time to write something. Let's start with yesterday and g backwards in time.

Yesterday Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia came to visit the theatre. Everyone was a little bit crazy. We had a school matinee that morning and as soon as the kids got out we were running around cleaning up the theatre, sweeping and vacuuming the floors, checking the bathroom to see if the kids had destroyed them (luckily they had not. they were remarkably clean, actually) and other things that annoy almost everyone. At one point while we were waiting for the govenator, Sarah was telling Mary what her job was going to be, which included leading the governor up the stairs to the Lord's Room. She was like "I don't want to do THAT!!!" I, of course, immediately said, "I'LL DO IT!!!!!!!!" So, I did. And let me tell you, the governor is really, really nice. He remembered my name at the end of the visit (and he pronounced it correctly) and he listened to everything I said to him. I took him up to the room and then I showed him how to get out at the end. I almost wish I would have been a little bit more "Alisa" rather than "robot girl who has to be calm while talking to the highest state official" because when he was leaving and I was back in the box office I was like "I have a schedule for you!!!!!!!" (a schedule of shows) and he laughed at me and said he'd come back. He was here earlier in the year to see Volpone so we believe that he will actually return. So, you know, now the governor and I are probably best friends. He is added into my famous best friends group along with Moises Alou when he played for the Cubs.

Oh, also, when the governor was here I couldn't help but notice how much he looks like actor/comedian Larry Miller (Best in Show, among other things). Compare these photos and see if you can even guess which one is Tim Kaine and which one is Larry Miller.

On Tuesday Chris's friend James and his wife Christine came into town and I was so excited to meet them. I have wanted to meet this "Jamesy" for so long because I keep hearing these hilarious stories about him... and not only do I hear them, but half the time I think the idea is so brilliant that I steal it and use it myself (like when I convinced Raffi that "Mother Smucker" had come to see our show on tour in Orrville, Ohio--STOLEN!). Anyway, I really liked meeting both of them... Christine is so pretty and James did not let me down in the high expectations I had.

Last Sunday I did a staged reading of the play Look About You (by Anonymous), which is the most confusing read of all time. It did not help that we didn't get to read the play until Saturday night and when we started blocking (I say blocking lightly because, since it was a staged reading, blocking just includes walking up to a music stand and saying lines) we were all like "What IS THIS PLAY????" Fortunately when we actually performed it it made a LOT more sense. Never read this play. Go see the play but don't read it because you will just be confused. It's a Robin Hood play... and *I* played Maid Marian (aka, Lady Faukenbridge)!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I think they're planning on doing this play in 2010 at some point. Chris was really funny in it, and so was Emily, whose character had a horrible stutter. Scot was in it too and he wore the most ridiculous, hilarious costume so everytime I looked at him I laughed. He had coke-bottle glasses, a fake moustache, a cape, a black bowler hat... he just looked like he was going to tie me to the train tracks in a silent film. My character didn't really do anything interesting until the second half when she asked Robin Hood to disguise himself as her and she dressed up as someone else... and then hilarity ensued. Sunday basically felt like it was a non-day. I was so tired during our blocking rehearsal that I felt like I was asleep the entire day.

On November 4th, as you all know, we (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stop reading if you do not know who won the presidency!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) elected Barack Obama as president (along with Mark Warner, who I have ALSO met when he came to the theatre, to the Senate for VA). It was a good day for everyone... everyone except the republicans, but really, I don't know how anyone could have been SUPRISED. I was happy that Virginia was blue and that Staunton was blue, even though every county around was red. I was even happier when North Carolina and Indiana went democrat because it was like a blue melt, starting in Maine. As soon as Ohio went for Obama I knew it was over and I am glad that every county or city I've ever lived in voted democrat. Chris and I went to vote at about 10am before I went to work and then we got our free coffee from Starbucks. I don't think 10 minutes would pass without me thinking about the election that day. More than anything else, I just never wanted to hear about Sarah Palin ever again, which of course has not happened. I really need her to disappear. She's driving me nuts. At least the CNN poll asking if she should get her own TV show was like 89% NO, 11% YES. In some ways, I guess the main reason behind my voting WAS to never hear from Sarah Palin again... and so in those respects, perhaps I lost. We're ALL losers, though, in a country run by Sarah Palin. Anyway, Obama won and I watched his speech, and Chris cried and we were so happy... AND I ate whole wheat pizza from Papa John's (5 grams of fiber a slice!) and drank some diet Dr. Pepper. Also, I could not be happier that the election is OVER. THANK GOD!

Everyone has been weighing in with their opinions (who asked you anyway????) about what kind of puppy the Obamas should get. I think (because I am a hypocrite) that they should get a Bichon Frise. I also think that *I* should get a Bichon Frise. I have decided that it is 100% the best dog for my life. First of all, it's hypoallergenic and Chris is allergic to dogs. Second, it's not a barker. Third, it's a lap dog but still playful. Fourth, it's TOTALLY CUTE. Fifth, I still think I would name him Barkley, even though he's not a barker. Sixth, I want one. Seventh, it is a small dog. Eighth, the King of France used to wear Bichon Frises around his neck in a basket like a necklace. That is totally WACK. Therefore, I would like one.

How could I NOT want this dog??? Look at his FACE!!!

a newfoundland dog can grow as big as a baby elephant

2008-11-02T18:55:00.003-05:00

My birthday was a lot of fun. Chris and I went to Roanoke which for some reason everyone thought was like 3 hours away but it's only 1.5. We went to the Olive Garden and other such amazing places like the mall and target. There was a puppy store in the mall and HOLY CRAP did they have adorable puppies in there. We later went to Petsmart and I got to pet some kitties. I think whenever we do get a cat and dog we'll get young adults so that I don't lose my mind. I pet a big kitty named Annabelle. Chris thought I said her name was "Animal" which is now the name he wants to give a pet. After we got home we went to the gelato place and I got a big brownie sundae of which I was able to eat less than half. I felt like I was going to go into a sugar coma. I put it in the freezer.

Yesterday Chris and I helped judge a high school theatre competition. It was actually a lot of fun. A couple of the schools were AWESOME and it was just kind of nice to see something other than an ASC show. A proscenium stage??? Whaaaaaat's that? Anyway, it was fun, some of the kids were really good actors and we made $75 and got to eat a free sandwich.

Right now I am lobby sitting while the kids from the college hold their auditions in the theatre for their grad projects. This kind of thing always sucks because you can't not get bored. I'd probably just be sitting at home doing stuff online but at least at home I can play the guitar or something. There is, however, an adorable child here who has endless things to say. Her parents are British and she has this really high voice with a hint of an English accent. She really has a lot to say to her mom. It is really funny. Her mom is kind of having a meeting with a student and the little girl keeps telling her she's going to leave. "Bye, mom. See you tomorrow!" She speaks really well for a 2-3 year old and it's just really funny.

I am super tired right now even though I slept a ton this morning (thank you, daylight savings). Probably because I know how bored I am going to be until I get out of here. We have to go shopping tonight because we kept putting it off.

I can't WAIT until Wednesday, when the election is over. If there is anyone on earth who will miss this hellish time of year they are insane. I hate how every other commercial is an attack on some candidate, I hate getting mail telling to to vote for McCain (yeah right), I hate hearing about the scams going around... like the people who sent stuff out saying that democrats vote on November 5th and Republicans on the 4th. Everyone is so mean to everyone else and I just hate it. I can't wait until it is over.

Chris Johnston and I are doing the preshow music for Santaland Diaries and I am now on the quest to find music. It is hard. Sufjan Stevens has a pretty good Christmas album and you know I will of course push for "Father Christmas" by the Kinks but finding songs that meet my requirements for awesomeness is difficult.

rocky horror

2008-10-30T21:01:00.004-04:00

Remember those years I spent all of October immersed in one thing: The Rocky Horror Show?

That was the best. The most fun, the highest energy, the most INSANE time of my life.

Look at me in this picture, all of 19 years old and with my natural hair color.

Every time I tell someone I've done that show three times they ask who I played. I say, "Janet. I always play Janet." They reply, "Janet!?!??! I would never think to cast you as Janet! Definitely Magenta... or that other girl....uh..."
"Columbia?"

"YES!!! You'd make a PERFECT Columbia!!!"

It'd be interesting to see how I'd be cast now. I still can't imagine playing anyone else in that show. It's also one of the few shows I could do.. like... forever. I don't think I could ever get sick of it. It's too weird and funny... and since there are new audience participation lines all the time it changes often.

And it was a GREAT way to spend my birthday.

Happy Halloween to every one from those casts and to you, blog reader.

And YEEEEEHAW---only 2.5 hours until my birthday!!!!!!!!

BOO!!!!

2008-10-29T11:39:00.007-04:00

The Halloween party was awesome!! We had a great time. On Monday morning Chris and I ran around to get the donuts and a couple other last minute things (like dinner for us later). After we got home we cleaned and set everything up and then were putting on our costumes until the very last minute when Jenny and Eliot came. Eliot was dressed as a kitty ("Succotash" to be exact) and Jenny came as that woman who carved a backwards B in her own face and blamed it on a fake attacker. Ella was REALLY excited to start bobbing her apples but I had to keep telling her to wait. We couldn't bob for apples with only 3 people there! Greg (my birthday buddy!!) and Alyssa came next since she had to go to a dance class at 8pm and soon after Doreen, JP and baby Olive followed... and then EVERYONE ELSE followed!!! I made them play the game where you eat a donut without using your hand, a pumpkin cake walk and then finally Ella was able to bob for apples. The food was in our apartment and games were in Scot and Kate's downstairs. The party only lasted about 2.5 hours but that's how I like it. My parties are like 50 minutes of extremely high energy and craziness sandwiched between regular socializing. I was EXHAUSTED when everyone left! It was great, thuough. Here is a spooooooky picture of me in my first costume, dead maid. I changed into Sexy Dinosaur halfway through the night (Sexy Dinosaur costume is now too big for me, just like all my old clothes.)

You can see all the party pictures I took (and some Alex took) at my flickr website.

SO!! What else.... we have not won the McDonald's Monopoly game although we aren't really trying as hard this year. I got addicted to that game in 2005 when I was sad over the break up, didn't own a refrigerator so I couldn't go shopping and had only $5 a day to spend on food. Chris actually won a pretty big prize one of the first years it was out so he has liked it since then. While on the road last year we played a lot since we could but this year we just never have the chance. Oh well. Even though McDonald's is now mainly trans fat free it's still not GOOD for you.

Now that my party is over I feel like Halloween is over, even though it's still 2 days away. OOOOOooooooohhhhh, two days until my BIRTHDAY!!!! YAY!!! As we all know, my birthday is the best day of the year for me and everyone else. Look how everyone celebrates it!!! Martha Stewart is CRAZY about my birthday!! She taught me how to make a paper wig today. Man, the Halloween mix I made for my party was SO AWESOME!!!! I had a ton of great classic songs (like the one featured at the bottom of this post) and some you might not be expecting (like "I Wish I Was a Girl" by Counting Crows). I was so proud of that Halloween mix.

I have to go to work tonight (I was thankful to be able to sleep in), tomorrow morning and then I have off for my birthday. On Saturday Chris and I are judging some one act play festival in Lexington or something. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing, really, but I know they're giving us $75. We HAVE to make it home for Thanksgiving!!

The Milwaukee Shakespeare Theatre closed abrupty yesterday. I guess one of their main contributors pulled out because of the financial crisis. This made me really sad. It looked like such a great theatre. Plus, you know, it's terrifying. At our theatre, and most other non-profits, tickets sales only cover 60% of the operating costs so we depend on donations.... that's not good in these rough economic times. I mean, it's probably not good to be a theatre at ALL right now. At least we have the pull that we are the world's only recreation of the Blackfriars and we're the only company in the world performing plays with all the original staging practices that Shakespeare used. That's a draw, right??? RIGHT????

Ok, go get a pumpkin and have some fun celebrating my birthday. BOOOOOO!!!!

----------------
Now playing: DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - A Nightmare on My Street
via FoxyTunes

lobsters are messed up, too

2008-10-20T18:53:00.003-04:00

Chris has been working out like a maniac to get into "Talbot shape." He's playing this character in 1Henry6 that's all... a warrior. From what the scholars say the character of Henry V may have been based on Talbot (the Henry 6's were written first). So, you know, he must be some kind of great speaker and totally bad-ass. Anyway, that's obviously Chris to a T but that cuddly bear still wants to become super buff so he works out all the time. He'd already lost a bunch of weight because I make him eat so much fiber. The other day he started to look sick and I can only assume it's because his immune system was too tired.

I'm watching I Love the 80s 3D: 1989 right now. They just showed The Little Mermaid and I realized something. You know how she dies in the original version? That's a story that was REALLY ahead of it's time. She gives up her voice for a man and then she DIES. I always found the story of Jessica in Merchant to be very similar to that of Ariel... not the Disney Ariel, but the other one. I still do love that movie, though. You know it will probably always be my favorite movie. She taught me how to SING!

We got a new desk at work and it's nice. I stress out in this job a lot. I don't remember EVER stressing out while on tour. The only time I DON'T stress out is when I'm bartending but even then, if I haven't eaten enough I get the shakies. So, anyway, I stressed out today when we finally were able to turn the phones back on (we had to get all the messages, put everything BACK in the desk, people were coming in and calling on both phone lines), I stress out if I feel like I've bothered anyone, I stress out about money, the size of the audience, having enough time to set up... I hate it. I wish I had a hot tub so I could just relax after work and forget I went there all day. Man, is THIS why people drink? I won't start drinking. I'll just start twittering more or something.

My birthday is only 9 days away!!! Ooooooh!! Or should I say BOOOOOOOO. I'm excited. I think we're going to Roanoke. My party is on Monday and I am also totally excited about that. Our apartment is the coolest Halloween apartment EVER!!! When I was little I was deathly afraid of the song "Thriller." Apparently once my dad played the song when we were going through a car wash and both things freaked me out a lot. I used to call the car wash "Thriller." Anyway, now I think it is the greatest song ever written.

What is UP with those Burger King Steak House Shroom and Swiss commercials? God, they're so weird. Burger King has definitely gotten funnier over the years but they also don't make any sense. Maybe that's the point.

I watched part of Signs the other day and was simultaneously freaked out and totally crying my face off. I always liked that movie... I really like movies where things mean something (like why Culkin boy has asthma or why tiny Abigail Breslin left glasses of water everywhere). I am also terrfied of aliens. Well, I used to be a lot more terrified of them. Recently I have truly seen how things on this earth are FAR WEIRDER than anyone's image of an alien. Even a regular FISH is weird looking than a movie alien. Anything from the sea is so messed up and freaky that I almost wonder how much weirder real aliens could be. Regardless, I don't want them to come here and kill me. There's no way we're the only planet with living organisms on it in the universe... but I sure don't wat to meet any other ones. Spooky.

debate schmeschmate

2008-10-15T11:49:00.002-04:00

I was angry at work on Saturday for a couple of reasons but it made me not a very nice person. One person's tickets were completely just... LOST. They'd been paid for, it was clear a reservation had been made, just not for the performance he was supposed to attend. I was nice to him. I was also nice to the school group who wanted to change every thing at the last minute. I started to get really irritated by the old lady taking advantage of the student rush ticket (you can get 2 tickets for one student ID) who demanded to be put in the best seats even though we had a bunch of walk up ticket buyers (we had 50 that night) behind her in line who were actually paying full price. We were running out of reserved seats. If it had been a small house I wouldn't have cared if they had good seats, but why should we sell a seat for$11 if we can sell the same seat for $35 when there are only a couple seats left? Ugh. Anyway. I was mad.

Last night Chris and I ventured out to karaoke with Nash and Pasha. It was pretty funny. Chris Nash did "air fiddle" to "Ants Go Marching" by DMB. There was a lot of interpretive dance going on in front of the stage. There were only like 20 people there and they all wanted to interpretive dance. Or rap. God, it was funny. Their song list was GREAT, too. They not only had every Pat Benatar and Heart song I could ever want to sing, they had the entire soundtrack to Hair!! I sang "Invincible" by Ms. Benatar and Chris did not sing... although he said he might next time. Pasha sang his apparent standard, "Brown Eyed Girl." It was fun.

I am, of course, not watching tonight's debate. Why on earth would they schedule a debate during the same time as the FINALE of Project Runway?? I don't like debates anyway. They make me uncomfortable. It's not like I would ever change my opinion by watching one, anyway. As long as you're a republican I'm not voting for you. Anyway, I am so excited for the finale!! I hope Leanne wins (obviously). I do like her collection the best. I liked Kenley's too (and Jerrell's but that's a lost cause) but she is just too mean to win. If Korto won I would only be disappointed that I didn't win $65 from the work pool. I really love Korto. She is awesome. But GO LEANNE!!!!

teena brought me candy called "creepy peepers"

2008-10-08T20:10:00.004-04:00

I'm house managing tonight which sucks because A. It's the longest of the 4 shows AND there is a talk back and B. I am going to have to watch the late episode of Project Runway. I'm also going to be totally alone in this lobby for the better part of 2.5 hours.

My throat is starting to feel swelly. I hope I'm not getting sick. It wouldn't really matter if I was but no one WANTS to be sick. My body hurt all last night for no reason but I attributed that to paper-cutting fatigue (which is what I did ALL DAY at work yesterday, making invitations to the Halloween party). I have been doing a lot of physical work today.... so much so that I didn't sit down until I had been here for over an hour and a half and then I forgot to print the will call until 10 minutes before the lobby re-opened.

On Monday Chris and I went to Charlottesville to go to the Halloween store. It was great. I twittered about this but I did a search for Halloween stores in Virginia and there are only 15. In Ohio there are over 60! That's ridiculous. There's also about 7 times the amount of Haunted Houses in Ohio. Why does Viriginia HATE FUN? I'll tell you what Virginia does not hate... potato donuts. We finally made it to Spudnut in time (they close at 2pm) and got to try a potato flour donut. Man are they good. And it was only $1.80 for two. PLUS... you know... I'm sure there's more of a nutritional value because it's made from a POTATO. Yes... that's how I justified it to myself.

I got to sing for the old folks again today in a workshop (PS- "old" is not someone is his mid-30s as a certain anonymous jackass commentor likes to think. "Old" is 70-80.). I like singing. I especially like singing Johnston's version of the "lullaby" from Midsummer. We sound GREAT and that song is awesome. I was so proud of myself for coming up with my harmonies on the spot because they are... very contemporary and complex. I am really good at coming up with contemporary melody lines, though. If I could use someone else's words and someone else's chord progressions I could be a killer melody-line song writer. I don't think that job exists, though. I think too many people can already do all three a lot better.

Sometimes I think about writing a book about how much working at the OG sucked. I mean, yeah, most jobs suck... but that job REALLY sucked. Especially when I moved back to Ohio. In California I didn't get tipped more than 15% but at least I wasn't completely freaked out by all the customers AND my coworkers. I was like the only person who worked there who wasn't drunk and on drugs all the time. I still really like that restaurant, though. If there was one closer than Roanoke I might actually go once in a while. I haven't been to the OG since Duluth in March!

i'm using bad language to make a point

2008-10-05T23:28:00.003-04:00

So, anonymous comments had continued so I had to stop letting anonymous people make comments. Great job, you ruined it for everyone. Also, let me just say one thing: I don't care if you make fun of me (well, I DO care but I'm not going to delete the comment. I'll just stoop to your level and insult you back) but when you insult my loved ones there is a BIG PROBLEM. This is why I am a hitter--- because when I get mad I get REALLY, REALLY mad. Not once, but twice? Come on, dickweed. Grow some fucking balls and get over yourself.

etc etc etc

2008-10-05T14:36:00.002-04:00

I got to sing once more this week for Alyssa but otherwise it's been a pretty boring week. They started renovating the lobby. The painters were there on Tuesday (and every night after the shows were over) and on Wednesday we got new shelves in the gift shop. They are really nice and they'll be even nicer when they have handles on them. My new shirts are selling really well which is good and bad. I obviously want them to sell but I do not want to run out of them right away.

I started decorating for Halloween and it is very SPOOKY in our apartment. Kate has done some very scary lights outside, too, which is awesome. I just want Halloween to last forever!

I did not watch the debate on Thursday because it would just make me angry. I did watch the SNL debate which was of course hilarious. Right now I am watching The King and I which is also hilarious. I mean, maybe I'm not laughing outright per se, but I am feeling the humor inside me, and isn't that good enough? I really do want to play Anna some day when I'm older. No one seems to do these shows, anymore. Rogers and Hammerstein shows. I mean, except for the racism and/or sexism that is in them they're really very good. Smart and funny scripts, great songs... I don't know why I am trying to justify Rogers and Hammerstein to the world. I think they've proven themselves already.

Project Runway was really disappointing this week. I HATE that they did not just get rid of Kenley. I mean, come on. It's just going to make the eventual elimination worse for whoever it is. I am getting excited about the finale. I am especially excited because I have Leanne in the work pool and if she wins I win... you know... $5 from the other 12 people. Considering I was 9th to choose I think I got a really good contestant.

exciting and cold

2008-09-28T21:12:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-22T17:49:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-19T21:12:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-14T18:04:00.004-04:00

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.

2008-09-05T10:36:00.005-04:00

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.