today, my soul is free.   today, i am a liberated woman in control of my own destiny (to a degree).  today, my spirit has been uplifted.  today, i quit Retail.

after careful consideration of schedule, finances, and the physics of the space-time continuum, i've decided that i can afford to quit Retail and pare my activity back to one job.

also today,  i drove into chicago for a production meeting.  i also rescheduled work tomorrow so i could go ride horses in the morning.  also today, before i go to bed, i will have bought a plane ticket to go home.  what a great day.

i was in walmart tonight considering buying a cheap pda.  any thoughts? 

also,   my more-decorating phase is now leaning toward  classic movie posters.

so august is shaping up to be a killer month.  i mean, busy killer.i'm trying to plan a trip home in the middle of august, between beloit and nat, and it's much harder than it should be.

had a staff meeting at nat, very exciting and inspirational.

i plan to quit Retail today or tomorrow, as my schedule is about to get all squirrley, and they plan to start teaching me new stuff - i figure it's a waste of their time since i'd be quitting eventually anyway.  i think i've got enough in the bank to hold me over, so i figure it's time.

i hope to do horses again this week, for the first time in a long time.  i also have to go into chicago tomorrow, or possibly tonight, for  a meeting at 9 am about my lighting gig.  i'm very excited - we're touring the space, and hopefully i'll come back with some sort of groundplan or sketch action for the set.   it's hard to do lighting when you don't know what the set looks like.

my ghetto neighbors are currently blasting the crap out of their stereo.  when i pay rent this week, my landlord and i are gonna have a little sit down.  i 'm  really tired of this bass crap... my sleepand work  habits are actually being affected by my neighbor's stereo and that's just bullshit.

i should shower now - gotta get ready for Retail.

my hair is in a ponytail.  this hasn't happened since high school which, suffice to say, was a while back.  it's been growing for a while now, quite by happenstance really.  i've not had the time and the money, simultaneously, since way back in the spring sometime.  i'm not sure what to do with it now - i could either have it cut like usual, or keep it longish and layery-like.  it's a nice change of pace, and i like tucking it behind my ears but sometimes it's a pain in the ass.  suggestions?
 
my fish got a new filter. they are noticeably peppier and the water is markedly clearer.  my wallet suffers for the happiness of a few fishies.  such a softie am i. 
 
i feel i need some new artwork in the house.  i've got several pieces that need framed, or re-framed, and a couple of spots that just need something new.  to this end, i'm surfing the web looking for pieces that strike my fancy.  i've looked at posters of architectural elevations, ireland, vintage theater and movie posters, vintage ad posters, travel posters, and current theater and movie posters.  again, any suggestions?
 
i'm listening to elvis costello.  damn, he's good.  watchin' the detectives.....
 
 

methinks my fishtank requires a new filter. this is upsetting on two levels: my poor fishies are swimming around in shitty water, and a newer/better filter will probably run me around $30 - $35. which i don't really have to spend on a fish filter. hm. i am also seriously considering trading in my plecostamus at the local pet store. he's gotten muy huge, and he positvely fills the fishtank with shit on a daily basis. petland does trades, and i think he's of a substantial enough size to get some good trade-in value. i'm conflicted though, since technically he is my pet and i don't know how i feel about that. i mean, really, he's a fish and won't know the difference. but finding nemo and all that...what's a girl to think?

in other news, i had a phone conference tonight for the scene design gig in chicago - i felt very 'freelance professional'. it was really funny since i sounded very official and "right on top of that rose" while sitting in my living room with harry potter in the background, and wearing shorts and a baseball cap. i loved it. i'm still awaiting meeting minutes from the meeting i had to miss last night due to Retail.

i wasn't able to trail ride today and my heart is heavy. my sleep deprived brain and body rejoiced though, i will admit.
next wednesday i plan to return, depending on what kind of shape guys on ice is in.

yesterday i lay like broccoli. it was glorious.

today i worked retail for a few hours. i really want to quit that job but my uncertain future prevents me from waving goodbye to easy money.

i am currently working on scene designs for two shows about ice-fishing. who knew? and one is a musical!

tomorrow i plan to be still like vegetables. i have managed to have the day off, through some divine intervention. two days off in two weeks!!

i had a meeting in chicago for the lighting design project, which happens in september. it's an adaptation of 'ipheginia' which takes place in a 1930's diner in the american west. it's a very intriguing project on several levels. first, the director has encouraged me to get funky with several moments in the play where we aim to take the audience to a different, wierder, place where they will have a "what the hell?" moment. secondly, the play shares the space with another show that plays after us, on the same stage, every night. this means that i have to come up with a plot sort of in conjunction with another designer that i have never met. lastly (for right now) the theater is a storefront that was once a speakeasy during prohibition. there is ornate plasterwork throughout and it's got 24 exits to other fake storefronts and buildings and alleys. also, it's haunted.

tonight i rented cold mountain. i saw it in the theater and was not sure how i felt about it. i think, on the one hand, that it's an interesting story. on the other, i still feel like there could have been less seemingly un-necessary bloodshed. i feel like there's more story there, and so i hope to read the novel - in my copius free time.

i have to get some sleep now - i want to be well rested for the day of continuous loafing i have scheduled for tomorrow.

more trail rides today. i also got to pat a bunny who purrs.

press conference at work with new guy, upbeat and encouraging but still no job confirmation.

cemented another gig in the city, for september, for lighting design, which i have not done for a while. little apprehensive, but excited. i have a produciton meeting in chicago friday morning and will know more then.

very tired now, as trail ride days start with chores at 6 am.

also full of bad chinese food, which i'm sure i'll pay for somewhere around 3 am.

well, i didn't win the $300 million mega-millions jackpot.

it's a shame really, i'd already planned how to start spending the money and it's a shame all those plans have to go to waste.

last night i saw farhenheit 9/11. has anyone else seen this movie? i'm curious to hear other people's reactions.

my friend gurl is involved with an up and coming theater company in chicago that is currently trying to arrange a european tour for next season and it's possible i could go with them. i have a gig for them in september, doing lights for a show. let's hope it goes well.

my cat is the cutest of all cats.

why buy a motorcycle helmet if it's just gonna ride around on the back of your motorcycle?

two nights ago, in my dream, reese witherspoon was hitting on me,and totally all about me. last night, i was getting ready to leave for ireland again, but with my college roommate, who was sposed to go with me the first time but was unable to. i wonder what will happen tonight.

i helped again with trail rides this wednesday, and it was just as fun as the first time! i got to yell at little kids!!

my ghetto neighbor is all loud tonight. i heard them fighting yesterday - she wants him to go but he won't go. i guess they keep making up, 'cause he's still here. he doesn't work so is home all day drinking and listening to the stereo loudly.

i hate them.

spaghettio's with meatballs = good
spaghettio's with meat sauce = blechhhh

lemonade kool-aid = good
lemon ice kool-aid = blechhhh

'tis true enough

today is the first day i've had off in quite a while. i'm not sure when the last one was, i think sometime back in april. actually, i have the whole weekend to myself, to do as i see fit. i feel guilty though, like there's something i'm forgetting to do. but there isn't.

last night we went and saw the stepford wives. i liked it. my sister and i agree that nicole kidman can do no wrong, and i'll stick to that. matthew broderick is cute like a bunny rabbit. i thought the movie, on the whole, was entertaining. i really enjoyed the aesthetics of the town of stepford, and who among us hasn't wished for a simpler, more black and white life sometimes? i admit though, i was more attracted to the idea of a stepford husband/man because where's the fun in making all the women the same? i would program my Stepford Man to know all there is to know about auto mechanics, home improvement, and stock brokerage, able to do excessive heavy lifting, and to treat me like his mother at all times - and to never, ever argue, second guess, or complain. oh, and with a remote control with a shut off button. he would also need a handy carrying case, so i could put him away when i don't need him.

today i plan to sit around. i do need to run a couple of errands, like hit the bank, and do some grocery shopping, and clean my apartment. the beauty is that i can stretch it out over two days! tomorrow night i'm going in to chicago to gurl's housewarming/birthday party, but that's not 'til 7. on monday we start work on show #2 at new court, and i think that one will go together pretty quick too. next sunday is chicago pride.

i have to sit around some more now, i'm tired from all this strenuous typing.

today i was up at 6, and at the farm by 6:30 to help with campers. we did regular chores and then we (+ a few other volunteers) saddled up a dozen horses to take little kids out on the trail. i rode in the middle of each group, of about 10 kids, on a total of four rides. elizabeth rode in front and kristin rode behind the column to keep all the stragglers in line.
i helped them get on the horse, told them how to steer and during the ride i made sure they all stayed on their horses and tried to get them to stop their ponies from snacking on the trail.

i am tired. i came home and took a nap, and for those of you in the know, you know that means i am really, really tired. i work retail tonight, and i really want to quit that job. the $$ is nice to have but i'm exhausted all the time... i expected "part time" to mean 10-12 hours, but it seems that it really means 18 and i can't handle that. i'm gonna ask them to cut my hours back more and we'll see if that works out better.

i saw harry potter, i am still not sure how i felt about it. i saw all the harry potter characters on the screen, and the hogwarts castle, but it was such a different movie i don't feel like i saw a harry potter movie. i feel like i'll see it again just to be sure. also on the list: stepford wives, and shrek 2.

i have to go dress for retail now.

educating rita is open. this weekend i sat through tech for another show, don't drink the water. i was designer eyeballs for my friend dan - it's his show but he couldn't be there for tech.

sitting for 10 hours in a dark, air conditioned room is a lot harder than it sounds.

now i've got tonight and tomorrow day to relax... then i've got meetings on tuesday for show two at new court.

workin 18 hours this week at M_____.

freakin busy!!

btw: that toilet/lawn ornament is gone!

one show down, one to go. tonight is the opening of educating rita at new court and boy am i glad. i am one tired puppy.

today i helped betsy with horses, and got stepped on by a pony. my left foot is kinda swollen on the outer side, and i expect part of it will soon turn purply. it hurt then, but now it's sorta just a tiny ache.

i have to go paint the floor now, and sit through yet another
performance.

even though you think it might be clever, don't ever use a toilet as a lawn ornament. especially not if your plans include frolicking gnomes and cement frogs in conjunction with said toilet.

the girl bar excursion was a good time i suppose, we went on a saturday night and didn't get out 'til late so it was deader than we'd hoped.. we'll be going back though 'cause on friday nights they've got salsa night and the place is sposed to be jumpin.

work is calming down slightly. quilters has opened, thank god, and now i'm focusing on educating rita, which opens on thursday. quilters strikes on tuesday and it's safe to say that it will have been my last foray (for a while anyhow) into the seventh level of hell that community theater can be. the show is fine but man did it take up more of my time than i expected.

someone peed in my elevator yesterday, or maybe it was two days ago... anyway it really reeks in there.

tonight i hope to see a late show of harry potter. wish me luck.

tonight i'm going into the big city to go to a girl bar with my friend gurl. i haven't been out in a little while, and haven't been to a girl bar in almost two years i figure. i think we will have an exceptional evening and i am very excited on the inside.

my new theater job is going well, it's almost a return to my beginnings, as it's tiny budget, borrow everything, spend $50. it's great.

i should go shower so i can be all hot and catch me a woman tonight.

the cutest babies ever! 

well it appears our prayers have been answered.

i've got a new job for the summer, working in WI with a good friend. he's got a summer company and i'm the design/tech kid for the summer. it's a good gig i think, and sure beats the hell out of retail. i've kept the retail job part time though, in hopes of making a few $$ on the side, and possibly partaking of benefits, which they extend to part time employees.

i spent this past week house-sitting for some friends, feeding the cat and keeping the hot tub warm :). it was good times, and free cable and laundry. what's not to like?

it makes me want a house. not a big one, and not in rockford, but a house all the same. i want to nest. i want to pick out co-ordinating wall and trim colors, and install window treatments. i want to sit on my porch, and watch movies really loud.

although i did/do despise the retail gig, it did what it was sposed to do - i've paid my bills and eaten since nat went dark for the summer... working with all those art supplies all day has also inspired me to start flexing my fine art muscles again i think. typically my art has to be big, but i'd like to get back into the charcoal, pencil, action again - i've got the stuff to do it already, and the mad skillz (rusty as they may be).

i think i'll go scribble.

attention Shoppers, the time is now 8:45 pm and ____ will be closing in 15 minutes. please bring your purhcases to the front of the store at this time. ____ will re-open tomorrow for your shopping convenience at 9 am, and thank you for shopping at ____.



dear Valued Customer,

get the fuck out of my store. it's 8:59 pm and i want to go home. i don't want to spend the next 10 minutes helping you pick out mat colors for your kid's fingerpainting that you're not even going to buy tonight 'cause you want to "comparison shop some more".

or,

it's 8:59 am and what the fuck are you doing here, waiting for the doors to open at this craft and hobby mecca??? have you no life? do you not sleep? i don't want to help you!

rescue me from this retail hell!!

i took the stars out of the background since they were troublemakers.

today was horses and we had a good time, cantering out in the woods.. i think it's way cool but a for real cowboy would probably think i was pretty lame. i don't know any cowboys so i don't care.

tonight is a party at the cobbs for liz. i will bake brownies.

laundry is also today.

girl has moved to chicago and dan is moving to muncie, indiana.

i'm really too pooped to post.... i don't know why i'm still sitting here.