Thank you, Laughing Lady

Today we performed our 100th show. Only one today - thank goodness. It has been a long but fun week. The performance would have been typical, if not a little low-energy except for a woman in the audience who laughed and laughed and laughed. She laughed so well that she sounded like one of those people we heard on Michael's phonograph recording of people laughing. It would be played on the radio back in the Old Days.

Her laugh was hearty. It was energetic. It made me giggle.

She'll probably live another 10 years simply because she's not afraid to laugh. Reminds me to do it more often - not that I don't enjoy a good chuckle or guffaw. I do it daily. But she was different.

sicko

Oh! I'm sick! Yuck!
I feel like crap! My head hurts.
I ache all over! My nose is stuffy.
My nose is runny! My dog is confused.

I got what's going around.

Picked up my car today...long story. Took an hour longer than anticipated. Hate body shops.

Then went to Target to buy Airborne which rocks and hopefully will knock this thing on its arse shortly. I don't have time to be sick.

I even missed a semi-cool seminar today b/c of it and I am not going to class tonight. I don't want to give it to anyone else. Maybe I can go to tomorrow night's class instead.

Eh. I'm going to bed.

Sushi and Archie McPhee rocks

Hey! Have you ever wanted to buy your favorite redhead some cool sushi stuff? Go to archiemcphee.com and you'll find all kinds of sushi and more things that will blow your mind!

http://www.mcphee.com/categories/sushi.html

81

We did shows 81 and 82 today...the time between them was the halfway point in our run. Man, I can't believe we've already done that many performances - but it's not like I want to do it 80 more times. Oh well. It's fun while it lasts. I'm sure I'll miss it.

New Skin rocks!

Jeffrey (a fellow Rainforest Adventurer) suggested I buy New Skin for my sliced fingers. It rocks, man. I'd heard of it before but the name freaked me out. But this stuff is great, especially b/c the band-aids (really, that's the brand I used) got wonky in my black gloves that I must wear for the show.

slice

Well this will be short b/c I'm in the dark while Karen is trying to sleep and I also cannot use two of my fingers b/c I sliced them while cutting some paper at work...at the studio. My left pointer and middle. I hope this won't affect the show tomorrow - well, I suppose it only would affect my level of comfort b/c the show must go on! Truly. No understudies - 'cept in crazy circumstances like food poisoning the director goes on for you.

Listened to an old CD today -kd lang's Absolute Torch and Twang. Love it. Reminds me of high school and my sister. Did you know that I have the magic ability to sound just like kd lang when I'm driving and I sing really loud? It's too bad the magic doesn't work unless I'm alone.

ok, I'm tired of hunting and pecking.

paint

I've spent the evening painting the word Detroit what feels like a bazillion times....OK, 60. And no, it didn't take the whole evening. I also burned some CDs for my friends Amy and Melinda because this weekend they're running in a marathon...or something like that...in Austin. What will I be doing? Running around in the dark and trying not to trip over puppets. Not as much exercise, but still fun. I keep trying to convince myself to start running. Karen suggested that I run with Ohren (we're calling him sausage boy now) on Mondays because it's my "day off." That means I only go to one job that day. Meh.

Speaking of O, we gave him a tubby tonight. He did well and I think feels better.
Here he is with a sweater mom sent to him a while ago. He was wet and wanted to go outside so we put him in it....he wore his red sweater to work today.

I made an appointment to talk w/ Hank on Friday afternoon. He always makes me feel better and excited about being in design school, so that should prove to be productive. I've never really made an appointment with him, though. I figure it's time for him to get to know me - the student side, not the janitor side.






I leave you with images of Orange George, the relentless one. When she wants to be petted, she wants to be petted. It's on the edge of cute and annoying most of the time.

Tonight she just was cute.

little cat snores

My (approx.) 14-year-old cat Jonah snores. I'm on the couch looking for images of ballet dancers and he's snoring. It's the cutest sound I know, next to his purrrrr. I wish I could be paid to snuggle with him and listen to his purr all day. I tell him so weekly.

Oh yeah, another thing that happened this week was I took Jonah in to the vet last Monday to have an "elderly cat check-up." The vet checked a lump (just fat) and took some blood. His bloodwork cost me nearly $200. Wow. But, now we know that he's healthy. And b/c he is healthy he was able to go in on Friday for a teef cleaning - he doesn't have many left anyway and they are BAD. She took two teeth out - one molar had to be drilled. He seems just fine - was just a little stoned for the last couple days while he was on pain meds. Let's hope I don't have to hold my nose the next time he yawns close to my face. I'll scan and post a silkscreen I did at the AIGA Boston conference last fall...it's called "Jonah's toof" and also is on a t-shirt.

He's snoring again. I love this boy!

I made Jane Fonda laugh

Wow. What a week! I wish I'd been posting...Karen noticed that I hadn't, anyway.

Last Friday night I stayed up sooo late to get a mock-up finished for a meeting w/ one of my instructors at 9am Saturday. Friggin' Saturday...the whole class had to meet on Saturday b/c she couldn't make it Monday or Tuesday for her classes. I had to present first and then run to the theatre (after a Starbucks run) to be there by 10 and stay after three performances until 4.

We performed the show for Jane Fonda that day. She brought her grandkid, I guess. We had to hold for about 10 minutes until she showed up, but I think she enjoyed it. It was a great performance and we felt good about it. I even heard her laugh a couple times.

Then that night Karen and I hosted a board game night. 15 people came over and we played Scene It and Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit. Lots of fun. We'll do it again soon and maybe play charades. I also am planning a kickass scavenger hunt for my 30th birthday the weekend after critique. I can't believe I'm almost 30! I slept well that night.

Got up the next morning and went to my car to drive to the theatre (it's my second home) and discovered that my damn car was broken into. We don't live in the best neighborhood anyway but apparently the cross-street we live on is really, really bad, according to the cops who I don't believe drive around here enough. I feel violated. He stole so many stupid things: a blender, two Beatles models (Ringo and John), my sunglasses, my rugby bag, a cell phone charger, a little cash and change and MARTA tokens. Jerk. I wish I could kick him between the legs with my cleats. I hate people who don't earn their own money and steal from people who actually work hard.



Now I'm in a brand new (as in 42 miles old) Trail Blazer, thanks to Geico and the $50 I give them yearly to have rental cars when my car is in the shop. I think I'll get my Altima back tomorrow or Tuesday.

I had a hard week school-wise. Just couldn't get stuff done. I think I've bitten off more than I can chew with the show and work at StudioBurns and full time at school. Had to not go to Wednesday's Environmental Design class and instead stayed at home and did the work for that class. Sometimes I think of quitting but I've gone this far so I may as well finish. I'm just not even sure what I want to do when I graduate. Scares me. I think that I should have taken this quarter off but I wasn't sure if I'd come back.

OK...this week we had 14 shows. We usually had 13 shows but on Friday night we performed for the members and patrons - people from big corporations like Delta who give to the Center. It went very well, thank God....they scared me to death, warning me how people wouldn't like the show, how something would technically go wrong b/c it always does on Patron night. I was soooo nervous...my heart was pumping like crazy. The only thing that went poorly was that a puppet's head fell off (luckily it wasn't mine and it was in the shadows, so nobody saw).

So, 8 shows in three days. Not OK. I am so physically exhausted.

Karen and I ate at Ted's Montana Grill tonight. It was nice and now we're both in a food coma while watching Sopranos On Demand. Man, this is a good show!

OK, I should go get some homework finished.

good mood

Well, today I've been in a pretty good mood, considering I was a little bit sleep deprived (aren't we all?). My first show this morning was great - but others didn't like it. Oh well. Second show was fine. There was an obnoxious kid who would yell out comments like, "Do another trick!" Sounds cute, except he KEPT yelling it. Pissed some of us off. For some reason, it didn't get me mad...but usually stuff like that does.

Came home after the performances and played with Ohren in the back yard. Came in and started to make my lunch. 5 min. later I noticed that I was tracking dog crap all around. Lucky me. Had to clean that up. Still not in a bad mood. Weird. So unlike me!

Had issues with homework (forgot to make the poster a certain size and had to fix it....Quark works on my desktop but not my laptop and my desktop doesn't burn disks but my laptop does. Crap like that. The only bad part about all of that is that I could only fit it (almost) and hour of work at the studio. I felt pretty bad about that....but Guy and Jerry asked me to get some coffee on my way in and I discovered my New Favorite Drink. It's at San Francisco Coffee - the Foglifter. Has a shot (or two?) of espresso (BTW, I hate it when people say eXpresso) some coffee, some caramel syrup and steamed milk. Heaven costs $3.39.

Took a little tour of a press for PrePress and Production class. Kind of boring but still interesting. Then we had class. Meh. By the time I was home at 10pm (still wired from the Foglifter) Karen was already in bed so no Sopranos for me tonight! Oh well.

Ohren hasn't been eating much lately. I think he's sad about being home so much 'cause we both work a lot now...and I can't take him to the Center, only to the studio. Poor guy. He's eating right now but carrying a mouthful of food into the living room to eat it on his blanket in front of the fireplace. I think he doesn't want to let me out of his sight.

I'm sipping a little Tuaca to mellow me out before bed. It's some damn fine Italian liqueur that my cousin Bryan turned me onto a couple years ago. It tastes like caramel.

Speaking of mellowing out, I'm considering buying some St. John's Wort tea to help me with my stress. Anybody out there have any experience w/ St. John's Wort?

I have to go to my two jobs tomorrow and put in lots of hours into my Type and Image class. And I hope to do a little house cleaning. We're having some folks over on Saturday night for board games!

Does anybody read this?

The REAL Groundhog day

This is from the AJC. Cracked me up!
**************************************

Groundhog's call: Spring is on way: 150 watch as Beau's shadow pulls no-show

photo: NICK ARROYO / Staff

By ROBERT WHITE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/03/06

Gen. Beauregard Lee has made his annual prediction. It looks like an early spring in Georgia.

The groundhog, who lives at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn, waddled nervously out of his house at 7:34 a.m. Thursday and didn't see his shadow.

A few minutes before Beau's prediction was made, it was announced that Punxsutawney Phil — a more famous groundhog in Pennsylvania — saw his shadow and therefore predicted more winter.

"Things are going to be cold and miserable for six more weeks — just what we'd expect in Pennsylvania," Art Rilling, the ranch's founder and the event's emcee, said.

The rite is much more than simply a weather prediction based on ancient folklore. (There are few television meteorologists who could get someone out of bed to stand around in 39-degree weather to see if a cold front is moving in.) It's a community event.

On Thursday morning, at least 150 people, some full of coffee, stood around for an hour and a half awaiting the woodchuck's 26th annual forecast.

Among those present were the event's honorary bell-ringer, Eric Lanford of Turner Broadcasting System; several people with a Feb. 2 birthday; and a fearless deer that joined the crowd although children occasionally tried to ride it.

The event's honorary woodchuck feeder was Cub Scout Jason Brown. What kind of grub do they feed a groundhog today? Why, hash browns — scattered, smothered, and covered.

That is not a joke.

Waffle House, which helped with the event, provided the side dish to go with the groundhog's daily vegetables.

Sarah Etheridge, 12, of Grayson, was one of the birthday girls at the event. She was chosen as the honorary V.I.P. to officially declare the marmot's prediction.

Sarah was hoping the fur-covered forecaster would see its shadow: "I want it to snow."

When asked what prediction it hoped the groundhog would make, the deer had no response. It did, however, look like it wanted some hash browns.