You'll See

Ahh.

I feel better. After church today, I kicked into gear and finally did some much-needed housework. Five loads of laundry, two loads of dishes, a good vacuuming, and a bit of organization later, and I am feeling much more at peace with my apartment. I am by no means done (you should see the pile I have to iron), but it sure feels good.

Last week, I worked from 7:30am to 10:00pm each day except Friday. I would have done the same on Friday, but the school won’t let me. The set is almost finished, and the dress rehearsals on Friday went pretty well. It was actually rather fun. We did loose a lead (every dang show!), but thanks to double-casting, that’s causing no real stress. No arrests – she just had a conflict with a rehearsal and had to make a really touch decision. As Janelle pointed out, we’re really acting better for her in the long run if she learns from choices like these now. So we stuck to the rules we had established from the beginning, and she lost her part to attend the other commitment.

Tomorrow is our last chance to rehearse before the news broadcast and the elementary school shows on Tuesday. Tomorrow’s also the beginning of 4th quarter at school, which seems so secondary right now. Four of my classes are changing, so I hope I get some understanding students. They will have to be patient with me this week.

I am going to have a bit of supper now, then off to bed. I’ll try to keep you updated on the show as next week progresses!

Make Them Hear You (reprise)

Yes! I am repeating a post title. I feel it's justified, though, given a) my much improved mood and b) one of the causes of that upturn.

After another hard-to-sleep night (thoughts of the show just kept running through my mind. Even once I feel asleep, I just dreamed about the play - we moved the show outside, and I was distressed about getting the sound to work over the wind, blocking on a hill, etc.), I woke up tired, naturally. Towards the begining of the day, though, the sound guy from the district came to check out our system. Dear Janelle took my class, I pulled my techie Josh out of class, and we went to the booth with Jerry. He spent about an hour with us, repairing microphones, agjusting frequencies, and teaching both of us how to actually work the soundboard beyond the basics. The results? At rehearsal today we heard everyone, and I didn't even have to be up in the booth! Ah - glorious!

Other happiness included getting the props I ordered from Oriental Trading, having a mom bring back finished scarves AND volunteer to sew even more, and in general having a good day.

I have found my optimism again, thank goodness. I just hope it sticks!

Make Them Hear You

I do this every year.

Two weeks to showtime, ten rehearsals left, and I am stressed.

On one hand, we are actually ahead of schedule. Kelley, Janelle, and I wound up delivering our "guilt-the cast" speeches yesterday ("We've put so much into this show"..."How dare you waste our time by not knowing your part"..."You will be on stage in two weeks, not us"...etc.). I realized afterwards that we delivered the speech a week before normal. That's probably a good thing.

My dear mother also fielded my usual "It's never gonna happen!" venting phone call ahead of schedule, as she pointed out today.

Basically, I am just stressed. It will come together - it always does. I just need to trust my cast to pull it together... and figure out how to add three more hours to the day. Mmm. That would be marvelous. Did any of you (besides my sister) watch that show "Out of This World"? I have always envied Evie's ability to freeze time. Oh, for that power! You can keep your mind control or ability to fly - give me more time!

I do this every year. Nope, remembering that doesn't help.

Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere

Photos!

Andy, Dad, and I at Sunset









California Cauliflower











Dad and I at the Farmer's Market










The ceiling at Cantor's Deli











Dad enjoying Cantor's Menu









Dad and I on the terrace at the Getty










Artwork to inspire my set











Andy outside his old preschool











Venice Beach Artwork

Sleep Tite

Hello again, O Faithful Readers!I apologize for my long absence. Most of you are quite aware of my schedule, so I hope you will excuse me. I thought I would post a run-down on the last month, though:

1. Went to LA with my parents and brother. Outstanding trip, especially the Getty, which has become one of my top 3 museums - great collection, excellent layout, very pleasant. This trip provided a much-needed escape from the state. I'll post pictures as soon as I upload them.

2. Hosted a benefit concert for my school in conjunction with one of the school's business
partners. It went... it went. The performers were pretty good, but mostly this was just one more task to get through for me. Definitely the lowest on my show-priority list. Speaking of...

3. The Relief Society play was this week. It's over, so hurrah. While I am looking forward to having my Tuesday nights back, and while I am already enjoying my now-free Saturdays, it was an interesting experience to work with adult actors. Given all of the last-minutes adjustments, the performance actually went rather well. Apparently, the stake president even got teary – a sign of spiritual success, I guess. Personally, I’m just glad it’s done so I can focus on “Island”.

4. “Island” is going pretty well. Our set is underway, most of the special effects are worked out, Monday we go off book, and I spent tonight knitting frog fur. Yes, frog fur. Let’s just say it’s an experiment. Oh, and our show’s going to be on the news. It’s odd, but of all of the stress of shows, the thing I’m most worried about is having to be at school by 5:30 am one morning in order to do this news broadcast. Huh. In any case, I am please to report that so far the only arrest to interrupt rehearsals actually wasn’t one of my actors. Which brings us to

5. Kelley (the dance teacher) and I got in a little scuffle with a crazy, stoned high school kid named “Curly Sue” who crashed our rehearsal on Wednesday. The short version of the story is that the guy made a break for it after shoving Kelley around and calling us both… well… use your imagination. Pretty much any swearing you can think of, he used it. As he ran across the parking lot, Kelley and I chased him until an awesome ninth-grader tackled the druggie in a Superman-esque leap. We wondered what took the detective so long to respond to our requests for help until we learned he was breaking up a fight and arresting a different kid at the time. Ah, spring.

So there’s a quick run down on the major events of the last month. I’ll try to get back in the habit of posting, especially now that I’m down to one show. In the meanwhile, happy March and watch out for curly-haired, stick-wielding strangers.

Incidentally, if any of you are aware of any teacher-education programs that include courses on self-defense, let me know. It wasn’t covered in my degree, although it has proven useful. :)