2009: Literally The Best of Times And Worst Of Times

The year started off with something I hadn't had in a few years, a full time girlfriend that I dubbed The Date. After a few more months I decided that it was high time that I moved her and The Things in with me and see if that was going to go as well as dating had gone. It obviously did:)

I developed closer relationships with my friends Court, Bobo, Skate, Teehee, and The Invader while maintaining my older friendships and rekindling at least one friendship that could have died on the vine had it not been harvested again.

Last Christmas I finally got my brother and dad to talk again after a couple of years of fighting. I had prayed for that daily. Their reconciliation was long enough.

The first six months of 2009 went very well even though we were facing an economic downturn of Carteresque proportions. The election of the first black President, to start with, brought a new tone to the country. A better tone or worse tone, well we just don't know yet. Suffice it to say we could have been out of this financial disaster long before unemployment reached the double digits it now sits at.

As May and June rolled around things started taking a turn for the worse. In May my cat of almost nine years died. Her brother remained my loyal and loving lap kitty. June and my company and union could not agree on a contract so I walked off of a job I had held for seventeen years with no guarantee of returning.

I was unemployed for the first time in almost two decades. I got a job delivering food from a delivery restaurant. Honestly the one time I felt any kind of peace in that span was when I was alone in the back of that place washing dishes. It felt honest and peaceful. No labor disputes, no anger, nothing else to do. The job helped me pay the bills as I got to keep the tip money which was instant help.

During this time my dad also took a turn for the worse. I was able to spend some time with him and make sure he made his doctor appointments. Then he called and said he had fallen and needed help. I loaded up and drove to his place, my mom was already there and had called 911. He was talking to her and then just kind of passed out. They drove him to the hospital and the next day he died.

If the strike were ever a blessing, I began to see this as the reason. I was able to take care of everything and literally not have to worry about work interfering. My Northern Brother came down to help me get through those very tough days, I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't. The Date stood by my side every step of the way as well, never wavering in her love for me. I'll never be able to thank them enough for the support they gave me, nor my friends who came to my side. That was literally the worst two weeks of my life, no exceptions. That was rock bottom of the ocean and couldn't go any deeper.

I worked three shows total this past year, Broadway Bound, Into The Woods, and Christmas Carol. Thing 2 endeared herself to any director who worked with her as a painter. She just went crazy painting sets and whatever else they wanted. Zip joined our family over the Summer. A little wired haired doggie who has fit right in.

October came and things started to take an upturn. By the end of the month I had decided to ask The Date to marry me. November came around and we married at the Theatre. My other cat, Patch's brother was killed in a dog attack. Scrat and Butterscotch joined our family shortly after.

I'm nearly recovered now from the financial mess that the strike caused. I had part time work and it still messed with my finances for months on end. Now as a new year dawns I've got two brand new opportunities! One I can't talk about yet and the other is a documentary I'm able to shoot!

2009 was without a doubt the most difficult year I've ever had and the best year I've ever had. There were no medium as it contained drastic turns up or down. On the very cusp of 2010 I look for the good to continue, my other project to manifest and become successful as I continue to film the documentary with the help of Beersnob, Jamal, and Mozart. Jamal, Thing 2, and I had a nice talk over coffee last night and talked about protecting our respective projects. Starting out on the same page and just making sure everything and everyone is covered and protected. We were in total agreement and really enjoyed the hour or so of talking!

2010 is going to be so much better in terms of stability, growth, and hopefully many projects becoming fulfilled! I wish you, dear reader a better 2010 than I plan on having and I plan on having a great year!

Yesterday Was Spent

Not doing a whole lot but preparing for a dud of a snowstorm. Yeah it snowed for a while and was really nice to watch but it's melting away and it is nine o'clock in the morning.

I had coffee with Chris last night (one of the few people who doesn't have a nickname) and we had a wonderful conversation about pretty much everything. It was super nice!

I took little Butterscotch to the SPCA and they scheduled him for a ringworm treatment today after ten AM so I'll have to get cleaned up shortly and get things underway to get him there in time.

Tomorrow is my end of the year wrap up blog. 2009 was a mixed year for sure.

A Great Outlaw Canadian Comedy!

I'm new to this amazingly lowbrow but hilarious comedy, Trailer Park Boys. It's on channel 101 on DirecTV and I've been recording it but I also found it online and have nearly watched the whole series.

It's the story of Sunnyvale trailer park in Canada. The main characters are Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles. They have two stupid helpers Corey and Trevor. They also have two antagonists in Jim and Randy Lahey, the trailer park supervisor and the assistant trailer park supervisor.

Ricky is just about too stupid to live. Julian always has a drink in his hand and is the idea man. Bubbles is mildly retarded but is sometimes the smartest one of the bunch. They are really pretty likable guys but Ricky can be annoying.

Over the five plus seasons I've watched so far the shows revolve around Ricky and Julian staying out of jail and avoiding Jim Lahey's attempts to get them arrested for any number of infractions such as growing weed. Ricky's only real skill in life is growing weed. However they never have enough money to get a crop going and if they do it always befalls some sort of tragedy in which it's destroyed.

This show really is at times hard to watch, it can be that lowbrow. When it's funny though it is brilliant if you don't mind the Cheech and Chong style drug humor. These characters really don't have much at all going for them, Ricky has lived in a car for nearly the entire show's run while only briefly living in a better place when he is in jail.

The sad thing is that this series has ended. It has gone onto make two movies I believe. I could be mistaken about that. The entire show is only fifty some episodes so it is fairly fast to watch the whole run. I would liken it to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia but before that show came out. TPB kicks the language up a few notches and the characters aren't as self absorbed like they are in Sunny. Many of the characters will go to great lengths to help out another character where as in Sunny they backstab them.

This show is a definite watcher though for some people. If you think you might be one of those people then it's for you! I'd recommend checking out the first couple of episodes though for anyone but keep in mind it doesn't get really good until the story lines unfold during the course of the coming seasons.

The Start Of A New Week

And the countdown to the start of a new year begins. T-Minus four days! I'm going to save my critique for 2009 for the first but I've got a lot to say about the current and almost former year.

Today I've got to take Scotch into the cat clinic and have this spot on his head looked at. The Date thinks it might be mange, I'm not sure so he is going to the vet and get checked out.

I'm off all week long! I'm going to enjoy this as well! I so needed a vacation. Towards the end at work I got to where I dreaded coming in. It'll be nice to usher in a brand new year and a brand new start.

I guess that's what everyone wants from time to time, a brand new year, a clean slate, and a reset button. I don't feel I need all of that but maybe a little time off will do just nicely.

Fun With Weezy At The Blue Note

Yesterday was really pretty nice all around! Thing 1 got to drive her new WoW character around for a little bit. I took Thing 2 to a local store to exchange a book I got her for Christmas which was one she already had.

Weezy put out a clarion call to meet some place last night for drinks before she jets back off to her LA life as a newly represented actor. She leaves tomorrow but that's ok, we got to spend a lot of time with her and catch up!

Beersnob and Mrs. Beersnob showed up as well as Actor, Red, and Court to my favorite place in town, The Blue Note to see Weezy off as she has lots of family plans today and wouldn't be around much.

Actor, Red, and Court left around a quarter til ten to catch Sherlock Holmes. It was sold out earlier so they had late tickets. They were very happy to spend some time with Weezy and Weezy was happy to hang out with everyone for a while.

I had a La Aurora Platinum cigar with a Bushmills and water on the rocks. It was a gift from a guy on a message board I'm on and I've got to say it was an amazing cigar! Full flavored but not harsh at all. Well constructed, no burn problems, and it was a delight to smoke with the company and conversation!

I also brought along a St. Luis Rey Habano that I really didn't want to smoke but I figured in a pinch I'd smoke this Cuban if Beersnob wanted the La Aurora. I guarantee though that the La Aurora was a far superior cigar than any of the Cubans I've smoke thus far and that numbers around two to three dozen. They all just seem a lower grade to me for some reason. They are either harsh, have major construction problems, or are plugged and won't draw properly. I've yet to enjoy smoking a Cuban cigar over a Fuente or a Padron with Padron being my preference.

They are widely available, a better value, and are quality all the way. I've never had a burn problem, a plugged cigar, or a foul tasting Padron, let alone Fuente! A common Cuban would cost two to three times as much and in the end it would fall flat and disappoint me, as they have already. But as Beersnob is my friend I would have offered up my La Aurora to him before choking down another Cuban.

The Crackheads Are Back

So I kind of got The Date the fifth season of Lost for Christmas. After Christmas breakfast with my mom we came back home. The Date put Christmas dinner in to cook and then camped out on the couch with Thing 2.

Episode after episode they went! I'm not sure what time it ended but I was fast asleep by then. Thing 1 is still on the couch this morning, likely didn't have the stamina that The Date and Thing 2 have built up for marathon Lost watching.

All in all it was a good Christmas. Dinner was really good, time with the family was really good, and it was still fairly white out but it was blustery cold. I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and remembered the real reason for the season.

Merry Christmas

Peace on Earth and good will towards all men!
Hallelujah!

Christmas Eve!

Yes it is. The winds are howling outside, a massive Winter storm is on its way, and all is right with the world right now! It appears that my first Christmas with my family will be a White Christmas! The storm is very slow moving and it is now on our doorstep.

I'm on vacation, yesterday's Christmas party was a success. Three briskets, a full pork loin, and some sausages for meats. Then everyone brought the salads and desserts. The past two days were spent smoking the briskets and yesterday I grilled the pork loin.

All in all everything went well.

Thing 1's Christmas is installed and I tested it last night. She will be happy with WoW and it'll be fun both of us.

The one movie I've seen more than any other starts tonight at seven. Twenty fours of A Christmas Story begins tonight on TBS. I always catch it four or five times a year and sometimes more.

Today Is It!

Today's the last day of work before my vacation begins! I won't be back to work until the fourth of January, 2010! Yayyy!!!!

ok so against The Date's wishes I purchased Thing 1 World of Warcraft. I've played every MMORPG that's come down the line since EQ. The list is very long, trust me. WoW has legs though, easily being the most complex and rich environment in an online realm since real life.

I've got a level sixty warrior sitting on one of the servers that I'll have transferred and she can play without the basic level grind. She can jump right in essentially.

Thing 2 and I have bonded, long ago but I feel I have a tough time reaching Thing 1. Maybe this is a way for her and I to have something in common and we can share together. It just so happens her boyfriend who I'll name Fuzzy, has three pretty high characters too so I've asked him questions (that I already knew the answers too) to basically have something in common with him as well. He fears me, good. I don't really want him to dislike me, bad. A healthy respect is good though and if there is a clear line that he sees that will invoke my wrath, all the better.

So this is as much a present for Thing 1 as it is for Fuzzy as I know they will be able to play together online and adventure until she is burned out on the game in a month or two.

We'll see how this exercise in bonding 101 goes. Perhaps if we speak a common language then great things can happen!

Fun Evening

While The Date had to work last night and The Things were out of town at a relatives house I spent the evening with Beersnob, Skate, The Invader and Weezy at Buffalo Wild Wings for some football watching!

It was nice, the conversation varied but seemed to last on Long Beach, which sounds like an amazing place and fantasy football. Much to the arguments of The Invader, but cheerleading is still not a sport. She does argue strongly though, just not strong enough.

I took Weezy home and headed on home to meet The Date to finish off a quiet evening with no Things.

Today will be busy at work. There are some things to wrap up before the New Year but my vacation starts Thursday and I won't be back until the fourth. So what we are going to do it better get done today, tomorrow is a big meal at work so no one works.

Good Thing One Is A Go!

The first good thing that is happening, that I blogged about last week, is officially a go! I loaded up Beersnob and went to a meeting at Director's house (though that nickname will officially be changed now to Jamal, there are simply too many directors I know and they can't all share the same name) and we met with Mozart. They are writing an original musical and plan to take it to work shops and get it produced.

Jamal is the lyricist and writer of the project while Mozart is the composer. They have been working on the project for a short while and are about a quarter of the way done. That leaves me in the perfect position as there is some foundation laid down and I can easily recap what has been done thus far.

We had a wonderful supper cooked by Jamal and we discussed both projects as we ate. I did what a documentarian did and watched, observed, and listened. Beersnob asked the questions and got a feel for where they saw their project going. It'll officially be dubbed Project X in this blog until it gets an official name from Jamal and Mozart.

They played some of the musical score from the opening and all I can say is that I was blown away by it. It was simply amazing and to be able to document a project of this nature from its beginning is something few ever get the chance to do.

This is a wonderful opportunity that I know I can make the best of and make something both Mozart and Jamal will love but at the same time make something an audience might enjoy watching. I'm really excited to put in the work, which could be a year or longer, to make sure this project is everything it can be.

Good But Short Evening

About mid way through yesterday my stomach started doing back flips on me. I don't know why, this morning it feels a thousand times better. Regardless I got the turkey baked and went to the framily supper.

Most everyone was there to celebrate the season, even three very dear friends flew in from LA to visit family, Weezy being one of them:) She told us her great news of landing an agent, which is big in the business, puts her in a different league from now on. That was awesome news! I couldn't be prouder of her accomplishments and hard work!

Anyway back to the main point, I carved the turkey and we waited for the rest of the guests to show up. Red, Court, Actor, arrived soon after. Then our out of town friends.

Witchy declared it was time to dig in! And we did! It was very good, everyone had brought something and it was awesome! About half way through my plate I started feeling bad, it was so good that I didn't want to stop despite my mild nausea. Well that was my mistake. I got sick in the bathroom. Made my apologies to the host and went home to rest. I felt badly naturally, but I couldn't help my situation.

Thing 2 had her first Winter formal last night with a real date. She was very happy about that! Earlier in the day we went to file a police report and as she was talking to the patrolman she actually forgot her birthday. The officer offered a few words of encouragement and she calmed down.

She felt a lot better about her violin now being recovered. I did too but hopefully it is just a mistake and someone took it home thinking it was theirs. That's the best case here:)

Great Night!

I took off early yesterday to make the turkey brine for tonight's shindig. So I met The Date and Witchy for lunch yesterday afternoon after work. That was fun! After that I came home, took a short nap, mixed up the brine and got the turkey in it.

The Date went to get Thing 2 from school only to find out her violin had been stolen from the music room. There were school owned violins in there and possibly someone had picked up the wrong one by mistake but we are going to file a police report anyway just to make sure. Seriously, who steals a violin? It wasn't paid for either but that was secondary to the fact that it really hurt Thing 2 a lot.

I'll get her another one if it doesn't show back up after Christmas break.

After dropping off Thing 2 to babysit for Witchy I headed over to Beersnob's house for a drink and a cigar in his garage. That was probably the first cigar I have had in a month, maybe longer. It was a nice set up, space heater, drink stuff, a radio on a sports station, and a couple of chairs. It was really nice to just sit and talk with Beersnob for a few hours!

We kicked around several ideas, the two I blogged about yesterday and he was on board and ready to help! Naturally he was excited and wanted to help with both projects. I'll be able to blog about both projects very soon, one maybe as soon as Monday morning and the other probably the week after this upcoming one. I just want some set in stone things before jumping the gun with announcing things.

After that I headed for the Pub to meet a handful of friends there for a drink, I had coffee. Court, Red, Actor, and The Date were there and we had a wonderful time! Really enjoyed it! They are some really good, genuine people and it was great to just chill with them:)

Good Things

Some very good things are happening. I can't go into detail just yet but there are at least two things that can possibly happen that are very good! When things are set in stone believe me I'll be posting them here!

I'm very excited about both and will be talking with Beersnob tonight over a cigar and a drink about one of them for sure. The second I'll be talking over on Sunday evening with a couple of guys so it really won't be long before I can post something definitive here!

Some very good news is that my frother Skate was asked to audition for Tops in Blue, an Air Force traveling show that contains music and song. This is a big big honor as many many people apply to be part of this show. It will be a full year of touring and then with any luck he will return here with many stories!

Purchased the turkey last night and some stuff for the brine. When I get home I'll be boiling the brine and letting it cool then putting the turkey into the ice chest for twenty hours or so before cooking it on Saturday! I'm excited! This will be much fun!

Been A Busy Week

Yeah real busy. My coworker has been out all week with the flu and that's made my work load that much heavier. It used to be we had three people in my shop and could easily handle it. Now I just get behind when it happens after they laid off two people out of our department.

Nothing I can do about it but do what I can do. So that's what I do. Going to pick up the turkey for the Christmas meal at Witchy's house on Saturday evening. A tradition that was started last season at The Date's house, everyone loved doing it so we are continuing it, hopefully well into the future!

So it'll be another Alton Brown baked turkey for supper and I hope it tastes as great as the last one I made on Thanksgiving!

Tarantino's Masterpiece?

If you read a handful of reviews for Inglourious Basterds (yes both are misspelled as in the title) and you'll see the term "masterpiece" bandied about, perhaps too freely.

I'd say it is Mr. Tarantino's most mature movie to date, surpassing Jackie Brown in terms of maturity. I'll say for a fact that after Death Proof (the oddly ironic movies which cost a lot to make to look cheap, you can find my review if you look back in my previous blog posts) Mr. Tarantino needed a win.

Inglourious Basterds is that win but masterpiece? Could this movie surpass the mighty Pulp Fiction?

To start with the dialogue is trademark Tarantino, his witty banter is the tent pole of this movie. Quite honestly there isn't as much violence as the trailers imply. You'd think there would be wall to wall gore and you'd be wrong. Yes there is some graphic violence but for the most part it is either very quick or almost comedic.

Brad Pitt heads the cast but Christoph Waltz's Colonel Hans Landa is the star of the movie, and possibly on screen more than Pitt and the Basterds. His honeyed conversational manner, the perfect vessel for Tarantino's dialogue, hides a mind as sharp as fictional character Sherlock Holmes and a viciousness as cruel as any in all filmdom. He is simply masterful as the Jew Hunter.

The opening scene brings back memories of the beautiful Tarantino penned scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper from True Romance. The tension so nonexistent that you never notice it until it is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I'd say it easily goes down as one of Tarantino's best scenes he has ever written and you veteran Hitchcock fans will notice one of Hitchcock's basic suspense building blocks.

Again if you read any reviews you'll also see the term "revenge fantasy" and that's definitely true. I'd like to say it's a cliche but it really isn't, it's that but it's so much more. The story isn't that complex but the way it is told, in five chapters, makes it so much more than it really is.

Pitt seems to revert to Jeffery Goines as Lt. Aldo Raines, the pseudo psychotic/sadist Nazi hunter sent to cause terror among the Third Reich foot soldiers. The disappointing thing is that you really never get to know any of them other than director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) as the Bear Jew. His standout scene is in a ditch where the Basterds interrogate a Nazi officer about where a nearby patrol is. In fact that is really the lone scene where you see the Basterds as a group for any length of time.

You really don't get to know much about them as you would in say The Dirty Dozen or a true masterpiece Seven Samurai. The Basterds are really a secondary plot line to the revenge plot of Shosanna Dreyfus who you'll briefly be introduced to in the opening scene.

Again not exactly what you would infer from the trailers you might have seen. So once again we return to the term "masterpiece" and is this movie deserving of that title?

Offhand I'd say it still ranks below Pulp Fiction and possibly on par with the Kill Bill movies. Pulp Fiction is a movie where everything works on every level and with every line. This movie does work but you might not be expecting so much story with your violent movie.

Without the hated spoilers that's about as much as I can talk about without giving anything away. I'd say watch it, temper your expectations, and just enjoy it for what it is. A witty movie with Tarantino dialogue!

It's Cold Outside

Yep, really cold and still no snow. Fourteen degrees and the diesel cranked a little slow this morning. It still started but it took a bit.

Just as a reminder to my regular readers I did double post yesterday, once in the morning and once in the evening so you can peruse that post as well and see what you can do about it;)

Little Scotch wound up sleeping between The Date and I while Zip camped at the foot of the bed. Scrat slept up stairs I believe where it is always warm!

I made Thing 2 watch It's A Wonderful Life last night, about mid way through she decided it was boring and snuck off up stairs to nap and I pulled her back down to finish the movie. She said it was really good after it finished! It's one of my all time favorites if not my favorite movie.

It's a rare movie that can be watched again and again and you really don't get tired of it. If Capra only knew how his masterpiece would still be revered today. If you haven't seen it this season, try to watch it. Try to do the right things as George Bailey does. He complained a bit but in the end he never thought of himself over others.

How our society has changed over the years...

Amazing

Imagine if you will if someone were to buy your breakfast, lunch, or supper. What would you do about it?

Just a stranger or two in a diner. Would you let it end with you or pass it on in the holiday spirit? Well those of you who know me know I'm not a guy who would let it end with me, I'm just curious what you would do.

Would you be brave enough to start such a chain reaction?
Would you be brave enough to pass it on and talk to the waitress about buying the meal for a stranger?
If everyone who read this bought one person one meal and in turn they bought one meal for someone else, imagine how how far it could reach!

And yes, all the hyperlinks go to the same site:)
Just trying to get something going!

Done

The show closed yesterday and after a couple of hours of striking the set we were finished with A Christmas Carol. Seven shows, that's a lot of a community theatre. It wears on the actors and the crew. Mid way through act two I closed the script and did the cues from memory.

It makes me wonder how touring companies do this, well other than the fact that they don't have a day job and that's what puts bread on the table. When everyone has a day job and they just do this as a hobby then it's different though. It's even more different for me because its not even a hobby, I just need the challenge that my work stopped providing years ago.

I believe I've been tapped to help with the teen show in teaching the light and sound crew what to do as well as Tech Guy (who will really be doing the teaching, I'll likely just demonstrate things) and then lights for the dinner theatre in a couple of months. Four shows there instead of seven.

All in all its been very busy the past couple of weeks and now I get a nice rest in the evenings! It'll be nice, really nice. I'm ready for it and I'm sure The Date is ready for me to be home for a few nights, well she is ready for the evenings that she doesn't have to work that is.

I've got to get a turkey this week as well for the framily dinner on Saturday at Witchy's house! I'm very much looking forward to that!

One Show Left

One more producer's show to go! Last night's show was really good, the audience really enjoyed it and were into the whole show. The cast party was really pleasant as well. The director hosted it so I stayed behind to lock up the theatre.

The Date and a few others are going caroling tonight. She says she hasn't gone in years and it would be fun. I'm just looking forward to the show being over with and possibly enjoying a victory cigar after set strike.

Just fixed some breakfast, pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and now I'm almost ready for a mid morning nap....

Two Left

Last night's show was a good one. The audience was good and laughed at the right places. Came home right after the show but we are going to the cast party tonight at the director's house. She went out of her way to invite me and it's always a fun time!

Coffee is brewing right now and it's a little bit chilly but not bad outside. It's nearly forty. Yesterday at work the company bought us all lunch under the guise of a safety meeting. They had a couple of videos playing but barely any sound. The new program manager (the top guy) had it catered out of his own pocket! I like the guy, if he were in charge months ago I don't think we would have ever gone on strike.

He really seems to be making some changes in how the supervisors and managers do their jobs which means its a lot less adversarial with the union. He seems to be a good and decent man, not the automatic opponent we have been used to.

I'm hoping tonight's show is as good as last night's. Skate was in the house as well as The Invader (who was child wrangling) and she did a good job after having a bad day;) Bdub was on sound cues and we experienced something very bizarre.

This was the Thursday night show and we heard knocking on the door on the South side of the tech booth. Not a faint knock, we heard a steady knock on the door, light but not feint. I could hear it even with my ear piece in for communicating with the stage manager which cuts down on your hearing of the outside world. The thing is that there is no way to get to the South door except through the tech booth. There are no other paths to get there and nothing there.

In addition to this the big, heavy door in which we get from the lobby area to the tech area slammed at least twice. We heard it and thought that the director was coming up to the booth to watch the show as she had done with almost every performance. Alas no, she was back stage and no one had come into our area. We heard the costume room door sound like it was trying to be opened but it was locked tight and lots of bumping of things and moving around in the pathway to the tech booth. Things are stored there like cords (neatly hung and coiled) lights (all in order and stacked) nothing was out of place and yet there was a genuine ruckus going on so loud that I thought the audience could hear it below us!

Throughout the whole show Bdub and I looked at each other and I even left my post (really to chew someone out for making the racket they were) to check the pathway to the tech booth, nothing and no one was there with the door shut tight. After I did that nothing seemed to happen and the remainder of Act II went well. I'm a skeptic meaning I don't believe in paranormal (UFOs, Bigfoot, Chupacabras, 2012, Planet X, or President Obama's hope and change) things unless I actually experience something. I'm not calling what we heard paranormal by any means but I don't know what all of the noise was.

The knocking on the South door is what really stood out to us. Neither of us can explain it at all. I didn't even blog about any of this until I talked to Bdub again and we talked about what we heard and our experiences coincided. I've spent many many hours in the tech booth and never, not once have I heard anything like went on Thursday night which leads me to believe the Theatre is not haunted.

Nonetheless I'm still at a loss as to explaining everything.

Four Down

Three more to go! Last night's show had a couple of rough spots in it but overall it was a decent performance. The Ghost of Christmas Present is really making the assistant director who is also doing sound cues, crazy. Some nights he will throw his glitter every chance he gets and some nights he just won't. The problem? There is a glitter sound cue!

It's become a game to see what he adds to or subtracts from any given scene he is in as every night is a new performance from him. The first night he used so much glitter that it actually covered the stage and found its way up into the audience!

Tech Guy made more wassail last night for cast and crew! I can't believe how good this stuff is! If its Winter and he is making wassail I'm there, that's all I'm saying...except to post the recipe he emailed me!

1 quart Apple Cider
1 pint Cranberry Juice
1 cup Orange Juice
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
2 cups Tea (or more)
1 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Whole Cloves
1 teaspoon Allspice
3 Cinnamon Sticks

Combine all liquids in an automatic percolator. Place sugar and spices in percolator basket. Allow it to go through percolator cycle. Serve hot.


It is cold out this morning but not nearly as cold as yesterday. Low twenties. I'm ready for the weekend. Been a long week at work, pre-holidays are either very slow or very very busy, this year it's the latter. It's still not as bad as last week was. I can't believe how busy we were last week, then tack on the show on top of everything else...yeah last week was tough!

Scotch pulled through his little operation fine yesterday and The Date will pick him up this morning:) Fun little guy! Once he gets a bit bigger Scrat won't be able to push him around as much and that'll be fun to watch!

Showtime

Yep, have the start of a four run stretch of shows tonight. I enjoyed last night's restful evening. Three evenings in a row was wonderful! I know that next week I'll be free but it'll be different as I won't have a show to do on the weekend, it'll just be in between shows at that point.

Scotch is going in this morning to get fixed at nine AM. He is such a fun kitten, he just runs around after Scrat or from Scrat (who himself is a kitten, just a few months older) and just plays. It's nice to have that kind of energy in the house!

It's nine degrees outside, the truck has been warming up for about twenty minutes so far. It's cold out. Northern Brother was trying to send me pics from his phone to mine yesterday of the eighteen inches of snow they got. Now that's what I'd like! If it's going to be cold it might as well snow too! At least that's the fun stuff and usually with that kind of snow everything is shut down. You get to spend the day at home or playing in the yard. You can watch movies, eat hot Winter food, drink doctored hot chocolate!

I know we'll get some snow soon enough, it'll be a few inches and we'll feel like we are being persecuted for something bad somehow. It'll be fun though to me and I'll enjoy the snow:) I am probably in the minority of people who enjoy Winter. I don't mind the cold weather, I don't mind the weather, I look forward to the year's first snow and watching the blinding snow storms that happen in this area.

It's Been Nice

To have the past two evenings in a row off. I did have the Winter Orchestra concert last night though for Thing 2. It was my first middle school orchestra concert. The Date had to work so it fell to me to make sure the first chair violin player was in place by the start of the show.

After the show was over I stopped by the grocery store to get some hot chocolate for the blisteringly cold evening. There were some poor city workers in the parking lot in barely double digit temperatures fixing a water leak. I felt so sorry for those guys at eight o'clock at night in thirty mile per hour gusting wind.

Thing 1 has an MRI on her wrist this afternoon. It is unsure if she has a fracture or just the x-ray wasn't accurate. Her soccer fall has really damaged her but she is still in good spirits and will be fine.

Scotch is quite the character. He will bug Scrat and then when he gets in trouble comes running to me. He has spent the majority of the time I'm home on my lap. Exactly what I wanted, another lap kitty:)

One more evening off and then tomorrow night is the start of a four day run of the show. I'm enjoying this show so I really don't mind. It's not as difficult as Yes Virginia or as technically demanding as Into The Woods. I've barely got over fifty cues and I'm running them flawlessly now. It'll be a good stretch of shows!

Ice Storm

As I'm typing this out an ice storm is pelting us with BB sized pellets. My windshield is frozen over with maybe 1/16th of an inch, maybe a bit more. The streets are dangerous.

My truck is running and defrosting right now. It appears from looking at the radar that it'll be here for another hour or two before quitting.

Personally I enjoy the weather. I like the way it feels. I like the way it makes people stay home while I can get out in it. I do wish it was snowing right now but I'll take ice:)

A Day Which Will Live

Until the schools quit teaching about it. After hearing about some of the horror stories The Date has told me about how ignorant some of the college aged students are about American history it makes me wonder what our future is.

Some make common spelling mistakes, some don't know Lewis and Clark from Amos and Andy, some couldn't pick out Thomas Jefferson in a lineup. It's embarrassing. The day that will live in infamy is the day we fail to teach the nation's youth our history.

Where this country has come from, how we got to be where we are in such a short amount of time, and where we can go. I love this country, we are a noble and good country. We've made mistakes but we were strong enough to correct them.

You don't see people risking their lives to escape into Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or any other country but you see people coming here and in the most haphazard ways to escape oppression.

Freedom is our natural state, endowed to us by our creator, we strive for it, we find it in every nook and cranny, and we empower those who seek it to find it.

Whether we are on the wrong track or not right now is debatable, I say we were getting off on the wrong track a couple of years ago and we are dead wrong now, others believe we are headed in the right direction with massive government interference in our lives and the erosion of our personal freedoms.

Where we are headed now is anybody's guess but on this infamous day in history I wonder how many actually realize it or care...

Not Half Done Yet

Today's show was good, a good solid show. The audience was dead though. They sat through the show and nary a peep was heard from them except for the occasional squeaky chair and crying child.

When the curtain call ended the show it was the most life the audience had produced as they rose to their feet and applauded...promptly followed by a quickly thinning crowd. It was a shame that the audience wasn't as good as the cast deserved. The show was really good.

I thought that the run was for six shows and that today was the half way point. Mistaken I was as there are four shows left. Thursday through Sunday. I'm off until Thursday night though and it'll be nice to be able to have a few evenings free!

Butterscotch

The new kitten is named Butterscotch....Scotch for short:) He was the youngest kitten the SPCA had and the last of his siblings to be adopted.

He will go in next Thursday to get fixed. Scotch is a happy, playful kitten who is helping me type this all out. I've backspaced a dozen times to correct Scotch's typing additions.

All three animals got baths upon Scotch's arrival home so they smell the same. It helped with Scrat's introduction to Scotch. They ran and played for quite a while. Scrat took a couple of hard swipes at Scotch but over all they were fine! Scrat is a young enough kitten to bond with Scotch and Scotch is plenty young to bond with all the animals.

The second show went very well. No major gaffes and the tech side of it went smoothly. It really came together as all shows do, at the end. Today it'll be half way over with when the matinee closes out the weekend run. Next week and then that's it!

Opening Night

The show came together, it simply came together. Last night was better than all of the previous rehearsals so far. Our Scrooge had gotten tangled in the bed sheets on final dress, tumbled off of the bed fracturing his wrist. He has a cast but was in very good spirits.

Tech Guy made some wassail last night, all I can say is AWESOME!!!! That was some of the best holiday (alcohol free) drinking I've done in a long time! At halftime I got a cup and gave a cup to Bdub and the director and stood outside the back of the theatre for the ten minutes and was warm.

I've got to make some! It is incredible!

I'm off to find a new kitteh today! I'm really looking forward to that! I need a little, tiny fuzzball in the house to play with Scrat and Zip:)

FRIDAY!

I feel like I just ran a marathon that lasted a week. The show is the show. Last night was the first night we had time to use the correct sound cues. That's final dress night. Everything is just really behind. I think I've got my sound cues ironed out and where to wait on the actors for time, when to have the stage manager cue me, and when to just hit the lights.

Today is going to work and I actually get a brief rest before heading to the theatre. Skate's audition tape went well. The first song went very well and the second took three takes but he got it.

Thing 1 tripped over a log in soccer and fractured her hand and possibly her knee. The coach thought an ice pack would fix it while the doctor said it was a good thing The Date didn't delay in getting her there as it would have gotten much worse without treatments. She is now camping out on the couch under a mountain of blankets. Honestly it's not that cold in the house. The thermostat is at seventy after all. I'm comfy, they are freezing.

I'm just glad she is ok and in good spirits.

What Day Is It?

Well I know what day it is, it's Thursday. I'm just tired enough to not really care what day it is. I slept well but I'm tired when I woke up this morning. Coffee is brewing, the truck is running and warming up, and I'm trying to wake up now.

The lights to the show are set. Everything will be a go for tonight's final dress and then three shows in a row. I'm very much looking forward to Saturday! First it's because I get to rest, second I am going to find a kitten and I'm very much looking forward to that.

I'm looking for one that's about four to six weeks old, a tiny one. One that'll be here for years and years and fit in well with Zip and Scrat who are also very young. I want to be over fifty by the time they move on.

Skate is having his audition done tonight and I'm going to shoot it and then give him my camera to digitize the tape and upload it. I'm excited that he could be picked for this, it is a brilliant opportunity! I'm excited for him!

Wearing Down

I arrived at the Theatre (with Thing 2 in tow) at a couple of minutes after five thirty last night and stayed until nearly ten. Tech Guy and I discussed lighting placement and positioned the tall ladder under the light bar to add lights and adjust them.

Once that was accomplished we hooked up the lone special effect, the black light over Scrooge's tombstone to illuminate his name. I say special effect because you really can't see the name until the light is turned on. The stone looks blank! It's kinda cool!

I've got a lighting snafu in the early second act that I've got to iron out tonight as well, so I'm meeting Tech Guy at the Theatre tonight again at five thirty and we are putting the final touches into the design. Normally this would have been accomplished last week and since Friday is opening night I'm still pretty nervous about the show's tech. This is cutting it way too close for me.

It's really wearing me out. The show itself is fairly simple and it's not the kind of work that Into The Woods was with over one hundred cues and paying attention every single line to a change. This is just we are behind and need to button up the play before opening night, so it's a rushed work.

Skate still has his project going and that has to be filmed and if I'm working these hours on the show I'm not sure where I'm going to fit it in. Last time I talked to him he was unsure of where we would film it and then I understand it is an online submission form so the tape will have to be digitized and uploaded somewhere and that'll consume some time on top of shooting and the show. I've got faith in my frother (new word I invented, faimly+friend in the singular male = frother) but if one thing goes wrong there won't be enough time to complete his task.

Wow...It's Only Tuesday

Yesterday was so busy I was hoping that the week might fast forward a couple of days for me. Today will be busier.

After work yesterday I came home and got a sandwich to eat and then was able to relax for a little bit before rehearsal. It's opening week also known as tech week and we have just now got the rough light cues set. This is something that is usually done a couple of days earlier.

They are set now but we still have a sign that needs painting, a couple of more lights that need hung and focused, and the tweaking since one of the main actors wasn't present last night. We only guessed where he was going to be and worked accordingly.

Tonight I won't have near as much time after work either as I'm going there by five and getting the last buttons buttoned up. I've got an audition tape to shoot for Skate (if he gets this part it'll be amazing! I'm so hoping he does!) sometime this week, tables to move, the show, and I've still got to work in eating somehow....

Busy, busy, busy.....