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.

well, they finally drove Dead Guy's truck away yesterday, and that's.. a good thing.

i got paid for my first two weeks at michael's and i'm making more than i thought i would. it's very possible i may be okay with just this job for the summer, especially since my hours had been squirrley and will increase in the coming weeks. i've already put calls in up north to beloit to work with the new court theater, but i may not be as desperate for money, so i may be able to just design for them. i may also be able to work for the mendelssohn club, in a small capacity, on their production of quilters.

tomorrow night i go into chicago to meet up with friends. christa finally moved to chi-town, after years of threatening ;). allison is coming into town on work from philadelphia and all us isu kids are getting together for drinks. i have tomorrow off and i don't work until 2 on tuesday, so i can get all woot woot.

i met my new landlords last night, and they tell me they're dedicated to turning this building around, and getting rid of all the trashy tenants - including my ghetto neighbors. they want to replace all the hallway carpet and all the windows in the building. this will be cause for great rejoicing, as my windows now really suck.

i haven't gone to horses in a little bit now, i'm trying to give my ass bones a little break. i've also been busy and tired but i expect now that my schedule is settling down a bit, i will be back in the newer, more comfortable saddle again. betsy thinks that jessie and i may be able to do drill team in the fall if we keep up with our "studies". woot!

i think now i will brunch.

i'm in a very strange mood today. i've had a very busy, stressful, and tiring week or so and i'm really out of gas.

i started full time at michaels, which caused all kinds of petty, immature and vindictive bullshit at my real job. that has been somewhat resolved. not to my satisfaction, or to my benefit really, but resolved, nonetheless. this on top of the everyday stress that already surrounds that job, as we've not made any more headway on the problem of next season.

learning a new job has been really frustrating. i was really dropped into a sink or swim situation and it's really annoying to be learning more new things everyday i show up for work, at this point. there are a lot of things i'm expected to magically know, or pick up instantly. i had forgotten how annoying customers can be.

i heard today that one of the tenants in my building, on my floor, died a week and a half ago. it was on my floor, but i'd been working so much i hadn't been there for the hub bub. there had been a really foul stench on my floor for a few days, but i tried to pass it off on my crappy neighbors. it turns out that this guy who lived down the hall, and weighed approximately 500 lbs. (that's no exaggeratin'), had passed away but hadn't been found for about a week. i'd passed him in the hall, or on the sidewalk outside a few times and we'd always said hi but i didn't really know him. for some reason i can't stop thinking about it. i think it's the idea that nobody noticed he was gone, and so it took a week to find him. his truck is still parked outside, he'll never drive it to work again, and it's full of his everyday stuff that will never get used again. it's a weird idea.

now the hallway smells like disinfectant.

yesterday we got some bonus horsie time. we were out on the trail for 1 1/2 hours before we came back to the ring to practice. i was trying to work on my canter on my regular horse, luke. as it turns out, both luke and i are left handed in our own ways, so we both are weaker on the right side. this means that we both sort of lean heavier to the left and that when we canter, i start to tilt over. so i'm working on situating myself more to the right to balance us out.. it's proving to be frustrating. i swapped with jessie for a couple minutes at the end, and cantered on willie for a bit. tomorrow i'll work with luke more - i think i can get it tomorrow.

tonight's show went well, the audience really enjoyed it. the most exciting part was afterward though, when somebody decided it would be a good idea to set our dumpsters on fire in the alley behind our building. we smelled smoke, went outside (i with extinguisher in hand) and discovered our dumpsters full of fire. i emptied my extinguisher into one while betsy, jessie, and beth ran to get more. i thought i had it out but it flared up again when i ran out of stuff. while i ran back inside to get more extinguishers betsy emptied another into it, and had the same results. jessie came out with another and tried the other dumpster, also to no avail. amy called the firemen while we were out there and they showed up and filled both dumpsters with water and a little of that foam stuff. both were extinguished and everything/body is fine; it was a very exciting end to the evening.

now even after a couple of glasses of koolaid and some cat petting/tv watching, my pipa is still knotty so i've popped a couple of tylenol pm's. horses tomorrow, and i'll be damned if some jackass firesettin moron pyro freak is gonna make me too tired to ride!

today i was hired for a full time job at micheals. i will make crap money that will just pay the rent/bills. i will also be eligible for insurance after 60 days, i will be trained and certified as a custom framer after 60 days and i will also have a set schedule and have every other weekend off, guaranteed, and will be able to take gigs in the city, given the set schedule. i am "lead sales" in the framing dept. they don't care that i will prolly want to go part time in the fall - leaving them to train someone else - they liked me so much that they are working around my current schedule and are willing to hire me over someone that will work full time for them indefinitely (instead of prolly leaving in the fall). i will be working 35 - 40 hrs. a week, days with one night a week and every other weekend off. i get a 25% discount, which will rock for supplies for my real job which are ususally pricey for me (pencils, papers, watercolors, etc.).

i feel better now that i have guaranteed income for the summer. i think that i will be able to save enough in the next couple weeks to cover my rent for the summer, and so the job should only have to pay the bills. that was my goal.

bjork is a genius. she should be declared an international treasure. there should be statues. i am currently listening to selmasongs. i haven't broken this one out in quite a while and am being blown away by it all over again. what's it like to be her??

also, i drank some liquor tonight, and got into a lengthy discussion about god and religion and i think linguistics (to a certain extent). what is god?

i've added another new blog to my good reads section down there.. it's my friend christa. she's known me since college, and probably has lots of good, incriminating stories. she's moving to chicago in may; and so will be more convenient for the drinking and escapades. woot!

today was unexpectedly eventful. i was awakened by d from michael's crafts at 9:30 to come in for an interview. me: "when would you like me to come in?" d: "how about this morning?" me: "that's fine, when should i be there?" d: "when can you be here?" me: "11" d: "okay, great, see you then". i went for the interview and she appeared to just adore me. apparently i said all the right things, except the part about how i may return to the theater in the fall, which interfered with her plans to hire me full time in the framing or floral dept as "lead sales". so i think tomorrow i may return with my theater joseph schedule in hand and tell her that i'm interested in the full time job since i'm not sure i'll be back at the theater in the fall (wink wink). i'd have a set schedule, mostly days, one or two nights a week, and every other weekend off. i'd also just have to work the one job, i figure, instead of the two part times i thought i'd end up with.

the crazy part is that they just hired a new manager a few months ago that is from accokeek, which is two towns over from my hometown. we talked about the franks nursery and crafts store he used to work at that my mom used to shop in. we talked about rt 301 and rts 5 and 925. it was a really tiny world moment.

this evening jessie cooked dinner - cornish game hens with tiny red potatoes and broccoli. it was tasty. we watched disney's hercules, which had some cute moments, but i can't recommend it. then we watched schindler's list, which i had not seen before, just because i never had the chance/mood/time coincide. that is a good movie. ralph fiennes character is so despicable.

i'm trying to get back into reading again, i picked up a couple of books at the library the other day - confessions of an ugly stepsister and savage beauty, which is a biography of edna st. vincent millay. i'm givin' my reading glasses quite a workout!

last sunday i went to horses by myself. betsy and i rode out on the trail; i rode willie 'cause luke wan't well (he's better now). we cantered on the trail, i felt all cowboy!! we also saw a couple of snakes and dogs.

this week we both went and i rode luke, my usual horse. his saddle isn't as comfortable so my ass really hurts right now. we didn't canter at all but we did some trotting and rode a long ways. lunch afterward was great, at the lucky star diner, and now i'm watching cruel intentions while i pay my student loans. ugh.

yesterday i ran wardrobe for the first time, and without shadowing at all so we were totally making shit up. it went fine, nobody went onstage naked.
tonight, and for the next week, i'm running lights - it's a button pushing job, and i like it fine.

last night at walmart i saw a car parked in a spot all normal and stuff, and another car had pulled up right behind it so the second car was in the lane, taking up half the lane. i'm not sure what kind of game was going on there - there wasn't anybody in either car. so maybe some kind of weird psychoredneck revenge?

my noisy ass neighbor is currently doing the Neutron Dance. i fucking hate him.

i'm applying for both summer jobs and for freelance gigs in chicago. it's a little mind-fucking.

on the one hand, i'm insanely qualified for the freelance gigs, and am so on top of that game. i have a Sexy Resume and all kinds of references and mad skillz.

on the other hand, i'm filling out resumes for grocery stores and borders. on those applications i need my employment history for either the last five years or the last three employers. i've had two employers in the last 8 years. my retail experience was so long ago, the store is closed, and who knows what happened to the people i worked with, not to mention they're half a country away.

it's a weird dichotomy. that is a dichotomy, right? or possibly a juxtaposition?

Joseph is finally open. last night was the culmination of weeks of hard work and drinking. it runs until the end of april. it's turned out to be a good show - the audiences seem to just be eating it up.

in other news, i was laid off for about two days this week. it turned around though, and i am no longer jobless - at least not until april 25th. during the two days i was facing imminent unemployment, it really lit a fire under my ass to get my resume up to date and work on getting pics to revamp ye ol' portfolio. thanks to my friend christa i am now the proud owner of a sexy new resume - one for theater and one for not theater, and possibly another chicago gig with the defiant theater, in addition to the show i'm already doing for tinfish. things are looking up - my plan for jeff awards and then world domination is healthy and under way!

so one of the cast members had a party last night for opening. i got tipsy; it was fantastic. i wasn't "falling-down-can't remember-anything-made-an-ass-of-myself-drunk", just "woooo! talking to everybody-social butterfly-drink in hand-tipsy" and it was great. the whole cast was there at one point or another and i chatted with the director, who is from denver, and have just finished printing up copies of my Sexy Resume for her to take back with her. i think i'm "networking".

i must away now, and purchase new jeans. and crew pants to wear for running the show in a ninja-stealth-covert type style.

Thighs Wide Shut
i think i like this guy. and he seems to be from maryland, so that helps. 'cause all the cool kids are from maryland.

last week the weatherman said we would have mid 50's today. in real life, there are two inches of snow on the ground and it's still snowing.

fucking weathermen.

happy st. patrick's day!

i took some photos of proof the other night... got them developed and discovered i really should wear my glasses when i take pictures with my pentax. i took another roll on sunday and haven't seen those yet; hopefully the glasses made an improvement.

i understand that pedestrians have the right of way in parking lots, but what's so difficult about actually looking around when you're walking out of the store and into moving (albeit slow moving, but moving all the same) traffic?

my nieces (my sister's twins) woke up early on sunday and spent the wee hours of the morning smearing vaseline all over their heads. what's funny (besides just that fact) is that when i was younger, i did that same thing to my little sister. i didn't cover her whole head, but did manage a handful. now, the twins are only 2, and i don't see them that often, and they managed to do the same thing to their sisters (each other) without my evil "bad auntie" influence. i ask you - is vaseline associated aggression possibly a genetic pre-disposition?

does rufus wainwright know he's writing just for me?