Who am I? Where am I?

Talk about overwhelmed!! I know I haven't posted in a LONG, LONG time. Right now, my cat is pretty sick (kidney stones and possible diabetes); she is having surgery tomorrow, and I'm working on a new play which opens in three weeks.

Meanwhile, this school year sucks in ALL POSSIBLE ways. I am so wishing I could find a job in NY and just move. The house, meanwhile, feels like it's falling apart. Every time I think I'm going to get something fixed, something ELSE goes wrong. And my sister calls while I'm trying to get ready for tomorrow's classes, it's almost 4:00, and I should have left 20 minutes earlier to get home an hour, another half hour north to the vet to drop off the cat, and back about an hour and a half to rehearsal.... just to talk....

The play is the only good thing going on right now, but being at rehearsal four nights a week and very early on Saturdays is about to wear me down, along with everything else going on. I have spent my last few weekends working on work and rehearsing. Haven't had time to spend with the people I want to spend it with, and it's getting to me.

This, too, shall pass!! It's almost Halloween!! :) I can't believe October is almost over!! Hopefully, my sanity will return with the change of the month. Or the kids' sanity will.... or something.

The Melting Pot restaurant

A fondue restaurant. NOT a success overall. The food is WAY too spicy, and I've never before had to pay to cook my own meal.

However, I DO have to say that the manager was AMAZING. He did absolutely everything in his power to make it as nice as possible, even to the point of bringing us more (unseasoned) meat.

We went to celebrate my sister's birthday. The staff did give her a birthday card, which was nice.

The first course was a cheese fondue, with bread, etc. to dunk. It was ok. The second course is a salad. The salad itself was GREAT. Unfortunately, they only have two or three choices of salad dressing, none of which my sis liked. She saved her salad to take home. I thought the Sweet and Tangy (reminiscent of a honey mustard) was decent.

Then came the meat. We figured we chose a meat. No, you get some chicken, some steak and some shrimp. As I'm allergic to shellfish, that limited what I could eat. The chicken was so spicy, it was almost inedible. They brought us all kinds of sauces, none of which any of us liked.... even the tempura batter was spicy. UGH. When he heard the problem, the manager did go back and bring us unseasoned meat. Which was very nice, and OH, so much better!! I honestly had never heard of a place where you choose a 'broth' and cook the meat. We chose an oil and a chicken stock-type broth. Unfortunately, you had to cook one or two pieces at a time, and it was pretty greasy.

Finally, the dessert. A chocolate fondue, with a platter of fruits, brownies, rice krispie treats, etc. to be dunked. I actually just preferred the fruit plain. They did bring my sister an extra plate of goodies with a candle in it to celebrate her birthday. Which was very nice.

AND, they didn't kick us out at 10 when they closed... we had no idea it was so late until we left at 10:30.

So, the food-- ugh. I really wouldn't care to go back to eat.

But the staff-- AWESOME.

Star Trek Film

I'm not a big Star Trek fan, especially TOS. just never felt like the writing or the acting, for the most part, were very engaging. I like Next Gen and DS9, but have never been a Voyager fan, and just didn't bother to even go see the last three or so movies.

I was talked into going to see this one, though, and I'm SO glad I did! It was absolutely fantastic! I loved all the little tributes they made to TOS, and the respect they showed for it and for the fans (since I know several people who are really strong, longtime fans of TOS). I liked learning about the backstory, although I really would have liked to have seen more of Kirk's mother-- what happened to her? She just kind of disappeared.

The acting was incredible, the sets and special effects were wonderful and the writing was excellent!!!!!

Has anybody out there seen it? What did you think? Good or bad! LOL! Any other big summer films you want to see or have seen and recommend?

WHEW!!!

Spring is FINALLY over!!!!!!!

I will never, never, NEVER agree to stage manage a show again, not even for my best friend! A friend begged and pleaded and G. and I felt sorry for them and wanted to help, but neither of us knew what we were getting into. And, no matter WHAT, I won't agree to do it again. It takes up WAY too much time and energy for no payback. If I'm going to waste my time and be sleep-deprived, I'm going to do it ONSTAGE, thank you very much. Not backstage.

During the time we were doing this, I took another workshop with T... and although I loved my scene partner (she was great), I was disheartened when I found out he gave us Chekov... CHEKOV! Let me just say, I am NOT a fan of ANY Russian writers. Just not. IMO, they are too wordy, I don't care for the awkwardness of the language (at least in translation) and they are always SO depressing. I should have known, though.... T. and J. liked it a lot the first time, spent some time talking with us about it, and with one or two sentences, gave me a whole new perspective not just on the scene, but the whole play.

I also took a workshop with an agent from NYC. Got a standing ovation for the one monologue we did, and she felt I had a breakthrough... I really think I got what I need to get the 'rest of the way' to the changes I need to make for film/tv. It was GREAT to actually get to work with a partner-- that really made a BIG difference. She said I needed to get up there, get started with T.'s studio (which I'm going to do, because I'm not going to do anything else down here that TM is in charge of), and get some exposure. The agents need to see your work, they prefer work on stage, and you've got to be there for them to do that. That is the next step. The problem is finding a job right now.... it is not easy.

I am really glad that the school year is over, though!! This one seemed to go by SO fast, and I felt 'behind' from the very beginning, and like I was playing catchup all year long. Now, after a hellacious Friday getting things ready and set up, summer school starts on Monday. I actually don't mind it, except for the heat!!!! It will go by more quickly than I can imagine, too, I'm sure, and it'll be time to go back for the new school year.

Pinter.... why does it have to be Pinter?

We went to see a friend of G.s in a Pinter show last night. He was EXCELLENT. His two co-stars were not up to his level, but the one who played his wife wasn't bad. I am, however, NOT a Pinter fan. Ever. Especially after the last Pinter show I stagemanaged. So, although I was happy to go and to see M. in the show, I dreaded sitting through Pinter.

I have to say that the best thing about it is that it was SHORT. And I do mean SHORT. Each act was only about 40 minutes.... so we were out of there by 9:30. Then G. and I went looking for someplace to have dessert and discovered -- yet AGAIN, that there is noplace to go around there, especially on a Saturday night. It's all bars. UGH. The one place we might have gone (which is where we had dinner before the show) was charging a cover because they were showing a fight in the bar... ::SIGH:: We found a little place where we got something to drink and talked..... 'til almost 12 (almost 1 with the clock changes).

Things are happening quickly.... by June, he'll probably be in NYC.... and I am hoping I'll be there soon..... this is such a bad time to be making such a move, but both of us know we have to, and he was told that housing prices are actually down right now, and will probably be going back up. He's got both a job offer and an agent interested and waiting for him to get up there. He just has to find a place to live (which is NOT easy!!!).

I can't leave until at least the school year is over and I need to find a job. We both HATE it here, though, and whether we are acting or not, both of us would be much happier there. Finding a job right now is not easy, though. I keep telling myself that things work out as they are meant to... they always have and they will this time. It's just a matter of timing.

I asked D. about places to live up there.... going to go up some weekend and she's going to show us around and she does know the places to avoid!!!!!! I really didn't want to come home when we went to see Pal Joey... it would be a dream to be living there. Working at T.s studio and auditioning, hopefully booking jobs. Never know until you get there, because no-one will even LOOK at you unless you live there and they can come see your work.

We're both getting our places ready, getting rid of stuff... it just seems like you pay twice as much there for half as much space!!!!!!!

Murder Mystery Night

Ever been to a murder mystery night? Neither had I. There was actually a group that I thought about joining a few years ago, but they were really too far away for me to do it on a regular basis. But, P.'s temple did this, and she really wanted us all to go. J1 didn't go, but J2 did... although J2 and L. got lost on the way there, so they didn't get there until the mystery was half over.... oh, well. The food was okay (although the desserts were great!!!).

It was a 'high school reunion." We got to meet a few of the classmates and one of their former teachers. It was kinda fun. The actors were fairly funny and had a good way of involving the crowd. It was fun, but after dessert, they did "Whose Line is it Anyway?" Now THAT was funny, and really good. They asked for different theatre styles, and a couple of us said Kabuki.... obviously, they had no clue what kabuki IS, but it was fun to watch anyway.... they also didn't know what 'peevishness' is (or how to spell it) when they asked for different emotions), but we thought they should do an evening of it. Y'know, a bit before dinner, a bit after dinner, a bit after dessert, y'know...... it would be a LOT of fun.

So, even though I have had a 'relapse' of the cold I had last week, and I didn't feel great, I'm still VERY glad I went.

Today, we are supposed to have MAJOR snow... first 'real' snow of the season, and frankly, I could do without it. UGH.

Lion King

So, my principal comes to me two or three weeks ago and says, "Do you have any Broadway connections?" Um, none that are going to get you tickets cheaper, that's for sure!!!! So, she asks me to see about tickets to The Lion King for sometime in May, as a graduation gift for some of the kids. OK. Fine. You couldn't have asked a little SOONER?

I never expected, however, to have such a ridiculously difficult time getting tickets for a show! It was unreal! You have to put in a request for tickets to the 3rd party company, wait for THEM to submit it to the box office, and wait for their response.... which takes 3-5 days. So, I submit. I get back a notification that tickets weren't available, but I should call to 'discuss other dates when tickets may be available.' So I call. To be told that they don't KNOW when tickets are available, they just submit the requests. So, I ask who DOES know what's available? The box office. Then how do I get in touch with the box office? You can't. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, he tells me 'if you have 20 days when your group can go, submit for all 20 days." So I do.... which takes ANOTHER 45 minutes.

And get a call the next day, asking WHY I did that... um, because I was TOLD to? So, STILL not knowing when tickets are available, he chooses 3 dates and says he'll submit those. So, we get a date that we can't use.

Meanwhile, I had actually GONE to the box office, to see if I could get some information directly from them... and they were EXTREMELY nice and helpful, but basically what I found out was that there was not much available where they would have the seats we needed together. ::SIGH::

Fortunately, the principal knew of a group that works specifically with school groups, so we did get tickets.... best deal we were going to find at this point. And I get to be the 'official guide' to NYC. LOL!!!!!!! I am really looking forward to it!!!! FINALLY.... who would have thought that it would be SUCH a huge deal? Anyway, now to find out about other things to see in NYC and where to take a group of kids to eat in close proximity to the theatre that would have food they will want to eat!!!!!