'Tis Herself!

in honor of st. patrick's day, i've posted a few photos i snapped in the auld country during my semester abroad in '96. enjoy!

irish coastline

quaint cottage by the seaside

on the left is the house i lived in for four months

doolin in the springtime

nonchalance

i came out to my dad. he says to each his own, fine with him, just wants to see me happy and with someone. then we had a laugh about it.

sometimes the non-drama is freakier than the drama.

bullet dodging

is a skill that i wish i had. sometimes, it would be nice to be able to instantly maneuver out of a sticky situation without fumbling words or awkward silences.
motherfucker.

more to follow, i promise.

updatum minimus

show opened, is going well. everyone is happy with the end result despite the 27 layers of hell we went through to get the stupid thing up.

mardi gras was a smash hit, almost the whole front page of the weekend section of the paper was a spread on it, replete with photographic evidence.

currently cleaning my apt. in anticipation of a visit from my daddy, who's not been out here since i moved in, almost four years ago.

must go now - microwave pizza awaits, followed by drinks at the gaybar.

money well spent

this weekend i spent the best $50 ever.

i bought:
1. fleece lined carpenter jeans
2. the first season of buffy on dvd
3. a moist/dry heating pad after throwing my back out

indeed, money well spent.

Jesus and Your TV

yesterday, i saw a bumpersticker that read 'if jesus came to your house, would you still watch the same tv shows?'. oh, the willies it gave me.

i haven't set anything on fire since my last ham and swiss, but i did manage to drop my keys down the elevator shaft in my apt. building. luckily it only took about 45 minutes to retrieve them, from the time i called my super 'til the time my landlord came to the rescue. this marks the second time i've dropped something down the elevator shaft - last year i dropped my glasses down the frieght elevator at work. they were saved by the case, which now has a gnarly tweak to it and won't shut all the way.

on sunday, for chores, it's sposed to be 6 degrees.
god bless long underwear.

ham and swiss flambe

today i set my lunch on fire.

i was toasting a ham and swiss and a little droplet of cheese fell from the sandwich onto the cover for the heating element in my toaster oven. when i went into the kitchen to check on my sandwich (i wanted it a little toasted, not too much) there were little flames shooting up from the element and from the corner of my sandwich. how often do you have to blow out your food before you can eat it? i lost the corner of the sandwich but the rest tasted just fine.

tonight i went to a hockey game, the icehogs, and had a great time, as always. some registers of my voice are totally shot but that is nothing new for post-game.

tomorrow i go to alan's to paint more on the mural, and then to see the aviator with friends.

right now i will go sleep off the remainder of the jack and cokes i just had at a bar up the road- new bar, went with friends, good times.

Preshrunk

i love a good t-shirt. this site makes me happy.

Preshrunk

human jukebox

those of you who know what my music collection is like will know why i think this rocks.

One Hit Wonder Central - one hit wonders music of the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's

early xmas at La Casa Deafgirl

my player came today and it is the sweetest thing ever. i've already filled it up with music (about 170 songs) and set up the fm station presets on the radio. it's day one and i couldn't be more pleased with it.

this weekend one of our cast members had a party for the xmas carol adults/nat staff and we all had a blast. i hadn't had a drink in weeks to save up and boy did i cash in. the best part was that i had just enough to drink, and budgeted it out responsibly, so i was in the buzzy/happy place all night. not too much, but just enough to cause a little mischief and have a social butterfly time.

this thursday is another meeting for the mardi gras party, we're back at "the big house" - the posh, riverfront home where we're holding the actual event. last thursday alan and i (mostly alan) gave a presentation of the design plan, complete with visual aids and a chalkboard.
with the help of the host, we've managed to delegate a significant portion of the scavenging and legwork to the other members of the "krewe" so that the amount of time alan and i have to dedicate has decreased dramatically. thank god.

the mural at alan's is coming slowly; i'm getting frustrated and i suspect his partner is too, but i have so much going on that i just don't have the time free that i want to dedicate to it to get it done as quickly as i would like. alan understands, and is a prince about the whole thing. i plan to head over there tomorrow night to get more done, and hopefully get closer to the light at the end of this artistic tunnel.

i talk too much.

my liver vs. the Tightass insurance companies

today was the gastroenterologist appt. it went fine. he feels it's more a case of the insurance company being a tightass than it is an actual medical problem. he says he will help me deal with insurance by writing a letter or whatever else he can do - he thinks it's gonna be hard for me to get insured now.

in better news, here's what i'm getting for xmas: that mp3 player!!

i'm going home for xmas!

also, gurl's got a job!

3d baby, 3d

today at work i am playing with 3d animation software on my computer. i've got a couple of new programs, with which i hope to create some animation projections for 80 days. it's wicked cool.

still on the fence about the glasses and i need to make a choice soon as the sale at sears ends on saturday.

here's what i want for xmas: an mp3 player. unfortunately, lots of places that have it for cheap (around $125) are out of stock. drat!

to see, or not to see

my eyes hurt when i read and use the computer. i have reading glasses; i got my eyes examined today, and i need stronger ones. apparently, in addition to my far-sightedness, i am now slightly near-sighted as well.

the choices are these:

a.) keep on with reading glasses like i have now (which i need a stronger prescription for) and use them for reading and computer work, etc.

b.) get bifocals with a weak far away prescription in addition to my up-close prescription and wear glasses all the time

things to consider:
- it is cheaper to get a whole new set of glasses than it is to get just new lenses and use the frames i already have
- bifocals are more expensive, on the whole
- i can still see fine driving and such... when the dr. put on the glasses machine at the store with my far away prescription, things were crisper but it wasn't a monumental difference.

i vote for the reading glasses until i need the far-away scrip - the doc said it's not mandatory, but then told me to go have someone help me look at bifocals.

what say you?

thanksgiving 911

someone in my building had a small kitchen fire last night, so i was on the phone to 911 at 5:45 this morning. there was smoke in the first floor hallway, and some coming out of the window of an apartment but no real danger - i got to see the firetrucks though, and that always makes me happy.

the 'guest lecture' deal went well yesterday.. i managed to crack a few jokes, and we filled up the whole class time. the kids had some good questions, some that i've never thought of like "what inspires [me] to design?" and some that were really hard to answer like "what's the hardest part of designing?". the class was at uw rock county, which is a commuter school. there were some smart questions in the class, but i think some of the kids were in 13th grade, if that makes sense.
all in all, i had a good time and feel better about the prospect of academia as a career choice in the future.

i'm going to eat turkey now.

long time no blog

we've just muddled through an extended tech/preview period for xmas carol (that's right, i took the 'christ' right the fuck out of christmas, didn't i). it's still in student matinees and opens officially on friday. i took this morning off, since i'm not running the matinees. i still have notes to do but i figure i deserve one morning to myself.

nothing new on the liver front - i don't have fatty liver, ultrasound was normal.. no hepatitis, liver enzymes are still inexplicably elevated. i now have an appt. with a gastroenterologist on dec. 10.

i'm painting a mural for my friend alan - he and his partner, roger, have just finished their 'theater room' and i'm painting theater drapes on one wall that will frame the tv. i've never painted a mural before, and am extremely apprehensive. i've cartooned out the big parts, and am almost ready to start painting. i am nervous.

on wednesday i drive to janesville, wi, to talk to an intro to theater class about my design work for the guys. i typically hate being in front of groups but, since i plan to end up in the land of academia, i suppose i'd better get used to it.

recently purchased the new rufus wainwright - want two. it's very distinctive. i had to listen to it twice to really get into it and now i've got favorite tracks which include (but are not limited to): old whore's diet, hometown waltz, and the art teacher.

away now to the shower, and then to put in an appearance at work.

nutshells

ultrasound was normal - more blood tests to come back tomorrow

house sat for some friends this weekend

knee deep in xmas carol, which is going okay

taking this evening off to clean and make food for the week

am co-chair of the decorating committee for a mardi gras party in february - we have production meetings, and a $500 budget just for decor. there are 6 sub-committees for this shi-shi party which is invite only.