Last Day

It's my last day of being 30. Overall a very good year. Lots of big changes. And while I love all those changes, I must say that I rather hope that 31 is less eventful.

Theater work continues to be good. I've decided not to do a Fringe show this year. Neither of the two companies I would really want to work for are looking for a stage manager, and while I'm sure I could find other work, having the summer off is more appealing.

Wedding stuff is making me nutty. I feel frozen in trying to set a date. Once that's done the rest will fall in place, but until then...ugh.

I have started working on the house again, but no real progress made yet. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to get Justin's office done soon. That will have a huge impact.

And there's my little check in. I hope that once I start making some decisions, more things will fall into place.

Cool!

It is totally simple! Except that typing out posts with my thumbs might get tedious.

Been super busy lately. Caligula went well, but was hectic. Then got asked to help with some props for Penumbra's Raisin in the Sun, which was awesome, but also took a lot more time then anticipated. Now I'm back to working on the house and getting ready for the next prop gig at Park Square.

Birthday is coming up, which sucks. Birthdays used to be fun but now they make me feel old. Whine whine whine.

Testing part 2

Trying this out again. I did it the once and then got busy and forgot how to do it.

Testing

They blocked my ability to post at work, which is the only place I posted from. Soooo...time to set up mobile blogging. Testing it out now. I'm in the booth at the Red Eye, during a section of Caligula with no cues. Let's see if this works.

Tech Week

I know a lot of people dread tech week, but I love it. For those not in the know, tech week is when rehearsals for a play start adding technical elements - lights, sound, costumes, full set and props. It's hard work, getting everything to come together and time out right. Lots of problem solving and standing around, hurrying up to wait, that sort of thing. It's also the transition point when stage managers take control of a production from the director. The director is still there, still in charge and making decisions, but (in theory) once the show opens the stage manager is in charge.

I really love seeing all the elements of a play come together. There's something that happens when we figure out the timing of those cues, and the lights and the sound enhance the dramatic tension on stage. Actors put on their costumes and their posture changes. The physicality of their characters starts to come through more. Their world is created and they adjust to it. It's really interesting work, and I really enjoy helping bring it all together.

I can tell if I've done my job well up to this point if the cast and crew turn to me with questions and concerns. If they aren't seeking me out, then I haven't earned their trust, which is a very bad thing. When they look to me for confirmation on something, I know I've earned their respect. I do have things I need to work on - I think I too often jump in to offer my opinion on how things should go, instead of letting the designers and the director interact. I think I do a good job of working with the designers to figure out where cues should be called, going off what they describe as the effect they're hoping for, or offering information about how actors are playing a moment, but I need to be more respectful in letting the director make their own choices and keeping out of those conversations.

I'm also rusty on calling cues, I think in no small part to the reality of being a stage manager and a board op. When I'm not calling light cues, and I'm in booths that require a minimum of talking, I tend to shorthand cue calling, which works for the shows I'm doing, but still makes me worried about losing that skill. Calling a show is tricky and I take pride in that I do it well.

It's good to have things to work on, though. And it's good to be in tech week, even when I'm exhausted. I'm really proud of this show, and excited to see it up on it's feet.

Bwah?

What happened to last week? I suppose I did take Thursday and Friday off (Thursday planned, Friday unplanned) so maybe that's part of it. Maybe I'm just losing time again.

Thursday went to Guthrie props and warehouse to pick up stuff for the Penumbra show. I heart the Guthrie props department. I could live in that prop room. New goal for me is to get hired on in the props department at the Guthrie. I wish I was joking about how much I loved it there.

We got tons of cool stuff for The Whipping Man, so that's awesome. Friday I woke up feeling achy and just new I was going to get sick, so I stayed home and slept a lot. Not enough, I'm still tired (or maybe the weekend took it out of me), but I haven't gotten full blown sick, so that's good.

Saturday I spent working on The Whipping Man. I recovered a chaise and it looks awesome, though I say so myself. I was really nervous I would mess it up, but for a piece of stage furniture, it's very well done. That took up most of my work time. I then headed home and decided to skip the birthday party Justin was going to and go out with the girls instead. We went to dinner and then saw "He's Just Not That Into You..." which was pretty good. Some parts were better then others, and I wish they had ended it a bit differently, but overall a good evening.

Sunday I headed back to Penumbra and finished up the chaise. I also brought in some pillows I recovered and some canvas bags I made. I enjoy feeling productive and handy. I also got to find out where to buy lamb shank, not that I hope to ever need that information again. From there I headed over to Park Square to see Jekyll and Hyde with Justin. He then headed out to meet up with a friend and I had the unenviable task of striking props and set dressing. So many beakers to rinse out! But I got all the props out of the theater, and will go back next weekend to clean up the prop shop and find homes for all those beakers. Finished up the evening with a bit of grocery shopping and some chinese food for dinner.

Not a bad weekend overall, just overly full. Two tech weeks is too many, even if I don't have to worry about getting over to Penumbra at all. I'm hoping to focus on Caligula, and getting that up on it's feet. Very excited about the first night of tech. Just wish I wasn't so tired.

The next week is going to be busy, but after that I get some free time again. I'm very glad to not have any shows until Robots starts up in May. Getting to head home and have my evenings free will be a welcome change.

Weekend Round-up

A very good weekend was had. We had a party for Justin's cast from Flickering Wall on Friday night. What a fun group of people they are. And further proof that we have an excellent house for parties. I'm really excited to see what happens when the upstairs is completed and we get a full house to use. And we're getting closer to being able to start in on the upstairs! Very exciting.

Saturday was an odd day. I was supposed to go to a baby shower, but the baby ended up wanting to attend, so mom went to the hospital and gave birth instead. Both mom and son are doing great, from what I hear.

Went to lunch with Justin, Seth, Pree and Gail on Saturday afternoon, after stopping in at Uncle Hugo's. We went to the Global Market and had yummy food and enjoyed the people watching. Then we headed back to our house where Justin took a nap to be ready for performing, and Seth, Pree and Gail watched City of Ember. Having already seen that movie, and not being very impressed with it, I worked on finishing book #6, which I did. His Dark Materials breaks my heart in all the right places. Highly recommended. Saturday night I went over to Andrew's and hung out there for awhile. We watched Hell's Kitchen (I heart Gordon Ramsey) and Top Chef. It was lowkey and excellent.

Sunday I went shopping with my co-props master from Penumbra. We picked out swatches for a chaise we have to reupholster, and got fabric to make bags from. We also made some plans for the week, and figured out how to get this stuff done. I feel pretty good about it overall. Then I went and picked up a saddle for the show from my uncle, and hung out at home for awhile. Brought Justin to the theater for his final two performances, and ran some errands. Headed home. Made a roast and some mashed potatoes to last us for the week. Did some laundry. Had some quality alone time. Went back to pick up Justin, and then went to bed.

I felt productive and rested coming out of the weekend. This morning I'm feeling scattered and exhausted. How'd that happen? Unfair. Ah well. I'm hoping to maintain getting that productive feeling out of weekends. My next couple of weekends should allow for that, especially two weekends from now when I have Monday off (Thanks, President's Day!). That's when I'll get to start on Justin's office. This theater/house cycle of work actually seems to be working. Just when I was reaching the end of my ability to focus on the house, rehearsal started and now I'm reaching the start of the end of my ability to focus on theater, but getting excited about working on the house!

80%

"80 percent of success is just showing up" — Woody Allen

I suppose I think that's true. I've been struggling with my day job lately, partly because even though I show up, I'm not feeling successful. It's that last 20% I need to work on. But I am working on it. So there's that.

I finished another book - The Subtle Knife. And am a good chunk of the way into The Amber Spyglass. It's hard, because I know that my heart is going to break as I finish this book, and I keep wanting to race forward and reach my favorite parts, but slow down and savor it. Bittersweet.

I've been really struggling with the weather, which is new for me. I survived 6 winters in Superior, WI, for crying out loud, but this one is killing me. I feel a physical longing for spring. I used to scoff at people who talked about moving to warmer climates, but I finally get what they were talking about. I just want it to be 74%, so I can open up the windows in my sunroom and curl up with a book and the cat and just spend an afternoon enjoying the fresh air. I want to be out in my yard, cleaning up the debris, and planting seeds, and grilling. Getting a fire pit and spend evenings slowly feeding logs to a fire, while I sit around with my friends and gab and drink hard limeade and enjoy being outside. I want to head over to Lake Nokomis and go swimming. I want to ride my moped on the river road. My moped! I miss my moped! I am filled with longing and it's so frustrating. At least 12 weeks before I can pull her out and take a spin. Maybe more! Ugh.

And I know everyone else is feeling it, too. Something about this winter is making it unbearable. And time is moving fast, it really is. How does that work? Days fly by, it's already January 27th, and yet...this winter is unending!

I have things that I consider winter-based (hot chocolate, knitting with wool, curling up under my feather comforter) that I'm enjoying, but they've kind of lost their luster. Any other things I can do only in the winter that will make me happy it's so cold and snowy?

Random Blatherings

I messed up my right knee somehow, and it's highly annoying. It's not a sharp pain, but a dull ache, and it's really tight and hard to extend fully. I worry that I strained a tendon or something. Alternating heat and ice yesterday seemed to help a bit, but it's still slightly swollen today. Boo.

Jekyll and Hyde has settled down, mostly. I think I'll probably continue to have little things to do for it here and there, but mostly it's up and running. I am missing a production meeting for The Whipping Man today, but 6pm just doesn't work well for getting to St. Paul and back again for rehearsal. I did send a bunch of research on furniture, and some ideas on my vision for the props/set dressing, as well as a whole slew of questions. Hopefully with Rebekah being there that will be enough. I know they'd like me to be there, but...that's why there are two of us, right? I feel pretty pleased with the research I did, it would just be nice to be there to either get credit for it or a gauge from Mr. Bellamy on if it's enough or not. Ah well.

Caligula continues to go well. There was a situation that could have been awkward, but I took it to the company members and we had a really great conversation where it felt like things were handled really well and I feel like I did my job well. I heart working for Walking Shadow.

Looking forward to this weekend. Going to catch up on sleep and reading and laundry. That's always my plan, but I'm really going to do it this weekend.

I'm thinking of applying for a Small Arts Fund grant. I applied for one in December of 2007, so I'm eligible to apply again. That one was for the funds to outfit a stage managers kit, which has been so freaking useful. I have the big kit with all sorts of things in it, and over the past 4 shows have gotten really good at breaking it down into smaller kits - the tablework kit, the emergency kit, the tech kit. My kit is impressive. I should put a little sign on it - made possible by A Small Arts Fund. Anyway, I'm thinking of applying again to get a netbook/subcompact computer. My laptop is bulky and heavy, and not easy to set-up. A netbook would be rad to have in rehearsals and production meetings, and if I continue to look for design work, super useful for keeping lists and other information in one place. I love the idea of pulling out the laptop and showing images of various items and ideas. And the ones I'm looking at are all nifty solid state drives, so I can not worry about having it on my moped or getting jostled on the bus. And at only 2.16 pounds, I can totally take it anywhere. I'm hoping that the Small Arts Fund people will see not only the use of the computer, but the use of helping me in particular get the computer. I certainly have put that kit to good use - 4 shows since I got the funds last January.

Busy Busy

I am putting a couple books on hold while I reread the His Dark Material's trilogy. I wasn't going to reread anything for this project, but I've been wanting to reread these books for over a year now, and with being so busy, it's a bit easier to reread something then to start something new. So a couple books are on hold now, and I'll go back to them when things are less busy.

Who knows when that will be, though. I just took on a gig being co-props master at Penumbra for The Whipping Man. I'm excited about it - very interesting script, very challenging work, but also a very short time frame and a very demanding director. I'm hoping that since there's two of us working on it, we'll be able to cover our bases and get things done. And it'll be over by the beginning of March one way or another, so there's that. It does mean I'm not likely to get a head start on the upstairs offices like I was hoping to do, but that's okay.

I'm really looking forward to J&H opening. I have a couple more details to finish up before it opens, but hopefully that will be it. We'll see what the last couple previews produce. I'll be glad when it's on it's feet and I can stop worrying about getting things perfect. Blargh.

Caligula continues to go well. We had a good production meeting last night. A little long, maybe, but considering we had canceled last weeks because of the snow, it didn't seem inappropriately long. Lots to talk about, lots figured out.

Justin is going to take up the role of the second guard/poet in Caligula, which should be nifty. I know he is excited to work with Walking Shadow, and was worried that they wouldn't ever really consider him if I was working on a show because of worries that it would be awkward having the two of us work together. This should demonstrate whether we're up to the task or not. I think we are. I really like this particular group of people, so it will be nice to have him know them all, too.

I have two knitting projects I'm also trying to complete, but not finding time to do so. I keep searching for a routine, but missing it. Maybe someday.

Life is Good. And Cold.

I love Minneapolis. It's my town. And I don't really want to move away, but when it's -22 degrees in the morning and I have a 4 block walk to the bus stop...I do wonder if I could get a job in Honolulu.

Things are going very well lately. I'm quite pleased with my work on Jekyll and Hyde. Not proud, exactly, but pleased. I think I'll get asked back to do more work for Park Square, and that's awesome. I met the artistic director the other day when I was working on props and had a very nice conversation where I got to feel like I was being insightful, and shmooze a bit. He mentioned that finding good props designers was hard, and I said that in my experience, most people who design props do so as an in, but that it's not really what they want to be doing. He seemed to agree, and mentioned that it's interesting how often that happens in theater, that he knows lots of stage managers who really want to be running theaters, or doing something other than what they are doing. It was a good little conversation, and I'm hoping it was enough to make me stick in his mind a bit.

I have Monday off, and a very full weekend, which makes me happy. I should still have time to get some reading done (I need to push to get ahead again), do some laundry and clean the house, play some Ptolus, hang out with Andrew and help Alisha paint her new house. And maybe catch up on some sleep. And be happy that the temperatures are going back to the positive side of the gauge.

Exhausted

Okay, maybe I'm just really tired. Exhausted was October 26th, when I had been working the day job, working on the house, running a show and moving in the snow after a bitch of a time getting the house bought. That was exhausted.

But I'm tired. Very tired. I had managed to keep the panic about losing my job undercovers mostly, but it was tiring being that terrified. And two shows going on is a lot, and the winter is kicking my ass, and just all of it. I need a break. I don't think I'll get one, but as things finish up and I have less to focus on, it'll be like a break, I suppose.

The props design for Jekyll and Hyde is almost done. I have a few more things to finish up, but most everything is in place, which feels good. I'm going to head over there after Caligula rehearsal tonight and finish up my detail work and clean out the unused props and extra crap I have laying around. Then it's just making sure they have enough of the consumables to run the show and I'm done (until I get a note tonight asking for a horse head or something bizarre).

I feel pretty good about that show overall. I think I could probably have done a better job on it, but given the short time frame that overlapped with the holidays and another show, I think it's coming out well enough. I feel like I've earned my paycheck, and that's about the best I can do at the moment. I hope they ask me back. We'll see.

Caligula continues to go very well. I feel like I've made a big improvement as a stage manager, which feels good. I updated my resume today, and a quarter of my stage management experience has taken place in the past year. That's nutty. But yeah, in college I would manage a show or two a year, not four shows. I guess I did other shows, too, acting or design work or whatever, but it's not the same commitment that stage management is.

I was looking ahead, trying to decide if I wanted to continue working at this pace and I think that I do. Part of what made 2008 feel so busy is the house buying (and fixing and moving), so without that taking up so much time, will I feel less stressed? And do I want to be less stressed? I sign-up for these projects. I *like* being this busy and maybe even feel the need to be this busy. I've spent so many years not getting anything done, and I feel like I need to make up for that time to a degree, and really push myself to accomplish something.

Bittersweet

I am not losing my job, which is a relief. But lots of people here are, and that feels just awful.

I don't have a lot to say today. I just wanted those people who knew this was coming to know that my job remains secure. woot.

2008 Year in Review

Got engaged to Justin in July

Bought a house in October (started looking in May)

Related to house - Fixed up a house. Painted a lot. Moved.

Was crazy sick for a couple weeks in July/August.

Racked up about 900 miles on my moped.

Got a new boss.

Stage Managed 3 shows - American Pilot (Walking Shadow), American Sexy (New Theatre Group) and Amazons and Their Men (Walking Shadow)

*****************
Overall a very good year. Very busy, lots of time spent with friends in between all the time spent looking at houses and in rehearsal. Only one or two things I would do differently if I could, but since I'm pretty happy where I ended up, maybe I wouldn't even change those things. I feel like I held my own, even as the world was going nutzo around me, and even made good progress.

Long Days

I knew they were going to be long, but leaving the house at 7:40am and not returning until 9:50pm makes for some very long days. Mondays are going to be the worst, with the production meetings after rehearsals. But, it's good. It's good to be so busy, and to be working on a production that I think will be really quite good. I'm a bit of an absurdist at heart, so working on Camus' Caligula is quite fun.

I'm also working on another side project (because really, if not every waking minute of every day is filled with activity, I'll die...or something) but I can't reveal what it is quite yet. I'm hoping to be able to talk about it openly in a few days, but we'll have to see what kind of progress I can make on it.

Not a lot else going on at the moment. Gearing up for a marathon tech weekend. Wishing my cramps weren't so bad. Working on being a good stage manager.

Back to Reality

I was chastised for being lax in my posting, and I couldn't deny it. I can only defend myself by saying the past three weeks have felt like they were separate from real life. I think the holidays can often feel that way anyway, but it just felt especially so this year for some reason. The house, the holidays, the three shows I'm working on. It does that.

But now we're back in it. Routine. Structure. Deadlines. All good stuff for me at the moment.

Caligula rehearsals start tonight, and I'm super excited for it. Amy and I taped out the rehearsal space this weekend, which is awesome. I love working with Steve Kath, he's so on top of things and well prepared. Having the space taped before the first rehearsal just feels like we're set to stay ahead of the game.

Jekyll and Hyde goes into tech next weekend. I have almost all the props bought/borrowed/pulled. Just a few more items to get, and then some more detailed work - printing out the notes and letters, adding "blood" stains to a sheet, that sort of stuff. I also need to find a few more items for set dressing. Then I find out if the director likes my choices or not, and be pleased with the ones he does, and fix the ones he doesn't. We'll see how it goes.

I still have to type up notes for Earnest and get those to Ellen. I am going to finish that today, and then my job is on hold until the script is picked and I can start making a props list. It's not until June, so I have plenty of time, but I'm going to try to get Earnest done by mid-April so I can go into Robots without having to worry much about it.

No new progress on the house. I have a few things I'm going to try to fix shortly, just to make it more comfortable for us, but then I'll be limited to working on the weekends for a little while. All the weekends that aren't taken up by tech or Ptolus or other events, obviously. So...I'll have like a day in January to start work on Justin's office. I should be able to get the upstairs done by the end of February, I think. I'd like to get it done by then, so that when I'm between Caligula and Robots I can focus on the bathrooms and basement, and prepping things for spring.

I do so much better when I have lots of things going on, and lots of structure to my time. I sometimes wish I was better at self-motivating, and not needing a deadline to make myself accomplish things, but I suppose it could be argued that since I sign-up for these projects, I am self-motivating in a way that is proven to work. They're not my own independent projects, but that's probably better anyway.

Oh yeah, I'm also working on my 50 Book Challenge. I have 2 books completed, and one that's about 5 pages from being completed, and one more started. Justin said I was trying to get all 50 books done in January. Not quite, but I did want to make a strong push to get a bunch done early on, so if I have time when I slack I won't fall too far behind. So far all the books have been pretty good. Nothing life changing, but good.

I'm also working on three knitting projects. Yeah...I might be overloading with projects. Just a little.