Cherry Blossomed

Two neat things happened today. The cupcake truck came to the Watergate and I saw the cherry blossoms.

Yes, there is a truck, similar to an ice cream truck, that drives around DC selling cupcakes. It is really quite an amazing thing. Sadly I'd forgotten to take my camera down with me and the photo taken of me in front of the truck is perhaps the most unflattering one in existence (and definitely makes me reconsider the wisdom of eating any more cupcakes for the time being!!!)

I snuck out of work at 5pm and went and joined the hordes of tourists looking at the cherry blossoms. They really are quite beautiful, though they were predominantly white when I thought they would be more pink. There were a few stray pink ones, but it was surprising how few of them there were. I'm not sure if that's something that changes each season and that perhaps it was affected by the cold and snow we had here this winter or if it is just the way it is. Here are a couple of my attempts at the classic postcard shot.

I walked most of the way around the Basin and made it to the Jefferson memorial - though poor Jefferson is entirely fenced in and under construction. I could have walked all around him to get on to the monument itself, but I opted not to. I would have thought they'd want him looking his best for this time of year, but it seems like an on-going project, complete with signs asking for donations! This just adds to my theory of Jefferson as the forgotten President. No one cares about who came third...if Lincoln needed upkeep, they wouldn't have to beg for donations - that's all I'm sayin'!!

Tomorrow, the last of the shows opens and soon, soon, life will return to some sort of normal.

Blossoms of a non-cherry nature

I think these are both Dogwood trees, but you are welcome to correct me. The top one, is outside my apartment (quite a difference from a month or so ago!) and the second is along my walk to work. I love the old street lamp against the stone....

Magnolia!!!!

Thank you Sue. The tree/bush thing is a magnolia! They are very pretty aren't they!

They are everywhere here - with Dogwood trees. The Dogwood is the state tree and flower of Virginia so there are lots of them. I've taken some pictures of those as well, we'll see if any of them turn out. I'm a bit behind on the photo front.

So this coming Saturday, I was planning to go do yoga on the Mile. Apparently we are trying to break the record for the most people doing yoga at once in one place or something and I thought at the very least it would make for a good photo op. However, I have now been invited to brunch with Terrence McNally, so...yeah, doing that instead. (crazy!!)

I'm also going to the DC United home opener soccer game Saturday evening which I am looking forward to. They don't play Toronto FC while I'm here which is too bad, but this way I can cheer for them with a clear conscience. My friend is a member of their "supporters" club so I think our seats are in the rowdy section and they have a tailgate party ahead of time too. Yikes. Well, I'm all about having experiences it seems down here so...

Of course there are miles to go between now and Saturday, but I feel there is now a light at the end of this rather long tunnel.

This is why traditionally western society has two days off. One is not enough. At the end of one you think, "right, I could get used to this, let's do that again" but if there isn't a second day off, that's a bit of a let down.
The weather wasn't especially nice, so I opted not to battle cherry blossom crowds through the drizzle. It's supposed to be 80 degrees by mid week (don't hate me) and I'm hoping to slip out for a couple of hours in the afternoon sometime to do the blossom walk-about. So I went to Pete's (favourite brunch diner) with a friend for brunch and then took a nap. Because the exertion of brunch proved to be enough for the day. Pete's still had their Christmas trees up, only now they were decorated with Easter eggs. I took a picture, but I'm not sure that it will do the sight justice.
Today it is rainning full out but I am hopefully for a relatively quiet day and perhaps the opportunity to sneak home early and do laundry.

I think it would be difficult to over-emphasize how much I hate having a roommate.

On my walk to work there is a bush, or tree maybe?, that is now blooming and the blossoms look like purple tulips. So it looks like a tulip bush/tree. I have no idea what it actually is, but it's quite pretty. (next week: cherry blossoms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

2 down

You are going to get bored and stop reading if I say one more time how tired I am, so I won't. (but I am!)

Show #2 opened tonight. I love these guys. I love the cast, the designers, the director. All of them. Fingers crossed for a good review tomorrow. It's well sold already, but I'd love for it to be a runaway hit for these guys.

I spent my day in a symposium on board development geared towards Culturally Specific arts organizations. It was really invigorating their enthusiasm and to watch the dynamic between the groups and our CEO. Everyone was very open and honest about the challenges they face and the solutions they have found. It is more difficult for these organizations to attract board members of influence and traditionally they've had more difficulty raising non-government/foundation donations, so listening to the discussion around solutions and questions was really inspiring and informative.

I told our lead in the other play tonight that a friend had seen and admired her performance in Gipsy and that lead to a whole discussion on "revivals" and what that meant and what one's responsibility was when performing in one - she was also very pleased by the compliment. It's a tough role she has at the moment, performing Maria Callas, so I thought a little reminder of past success wouldn't go amiss...

if you have a spare hour...

http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=A68808

Watch this link - it's the event I was at on Monday...

I'm sure I've been this tired before, but I just don't remember it. Today I was at the point where I was making stupid mistakes. Fortunately, our box office is awesome and caught them all. It is also fortunate that I followed my first rule of theatre - do you remember what it is? Yes, that's right, make friends with box office (second being make friends with your bartender). I took a cab home because i thought I'd accidently walk in front of something that was moving otherwise.

In the last 24 hours: I have dealt with an actor who has shingles (ouch), made sure everyone has had the chicken pox (parents, please tell your children when they are grown if they've had them or not. Two of the cast had to call their moms to confirm! though how you could not remember having chicken pox I have no idea. I remember it vividly.) convinced the others in the company there was nothing to freak out about since you can't actually catch shingles from someone. Had another actor in another show arrive at work slightly....in his cups shall I say. And had a dress rehearsal featuring a major Hollywood actor. So it's been a bit crazy.

This week features one dress and one opening night (two shows); next week one opening and one closing. Whoever made this schedule was on crack. I'm also in a board symposium for my fellows work (oh yeah, that) for the next two days. I'm hoping it will be very interesting as long as I have the stamina for it.

Last night I ate at this tiny hole in the wall place in Arlington. The food? Italian/Austrian. The family who run it? Korean. Hilarious. My friend loves the place though I found it to be...okay...

Best thing about today: the lighting designer of the show opening tomorrow (my favourite of the three with the nicest cast and creative team) bought everyone Georgetown cupcakes! I may have posted this picture before, but if so, it's worth repeating...

Today I had a vanilla-vanilla cupcake and I think it was the best thing I've ever eaten. Now granted, I think that perhaps I am not getting quite all the nutrients I should be at the moment, but I still think it was delicious. Cupcakes are very in here right now. Just like they were in New York five years ago. Macaroons are the hot new thing in NY FYI. I don't like macaroons though.

I had a very nice compliment today from the husband/producer of the playwright. He said that the other company manager and I were the best he has ever worked with. And he said he was telling everyone that he thought so. Now who knows, maybe he says this on every show he works on, but still, it was good of him to say so.

Tonight's event was pretty great. It was called "Masters of McNally" with four actors discussing what it was like to be in his works and to essentially be his muse and he had created roles for many of them. The four were John Glover (in our Lisbon Traviata currently - and now a friend of mine, oh and he played Lex Luther's father on Smallville!), Audra Macdonald (you'll know her from the not so good TV show Private Practice), the formidable Zoe Caldwell and John Boy from the Waltons. Quote of the night: Peter Marks (the moderate and writer for the Post)"John, do you think Smallville was well written?" John Glover " I don't quite know how to answer that".

Mr McNally was sitting in front of me and it was terrific to watch him react to what was happening on stage. and it was all amazingly funny and genuine. Everyone was there because they had a real affection for him and his work. It was all taped for our website, I'll try to remember to put up the link when it's posted. (there is a slight chance that I will be in one shot at the end when Terrence said a few words...we'll see)

Speaking of that, in a couple of weeks we are going to be taped for a podcast on our website discussing god knows what with the international fellows. If it doesn't end up too horrendously I'll post a link to that as well...

While I feel this American healthcare bill is important symbolically, I don't feel this, now very watered down, bill is a particularly bold or visionary step. True vision would have seen them reform medicare into a decently efficient public health system that would take over from the currently insurance run system. A bold step would have ensured that women would have the right to make choices about their bodies that weren't based on finances.

At one point in the awful party last night there was a healthcare debate. (oh I forgot to mention that about half of them were Republican, adding to the evening!) The host is the VP of whatever company he works for and told of a true conversation that was had at the last meeting with their insurance provider. One of their employees has colon cancer. The insurance company had run two financial scenarios - one with this employee and one without. And there was an actual discussion about how laying him off would save the company a lot of money - and in this economy easy to justify. Sometimes, this country really makes me ill. I can't fathom a decent, morale society considering this a reasonable discussion.

To end on a lighter note, my Kentucky fellow friend for my birthday gave me my own American HMO plan! It consisted of the following: bandaids, hand sanitizer, Tylenol and dark chocolate. I thought it was brilliant.

another day, another protest

Yesterday there was another Tea Party rally featuring many violent signs "kill the bill" "slaughter health care" etc (as my friend Shannon pointed out to me as she got caught in it accidentally the right wing tend towards violent vocabulary in their protests), today immigrants are gathering on the Capitol to support some bill that's been stalled for a long time and is now finally being voted on. I didn't know this rally was happening until about 10,000 members of the Latino community marched by my apartment (just now!). They had first gathered in Columbia Heights, just north of me and were walking to the Mall from there (quite a walk). Of course they are running a tad late since according to the Washington Post, the rally was to start half an hour ago...

I'm trying to think of it as a sociological experiment and as experiencing the diverse cultural milieu of America. Last night I went to a house party in suburban Virginia (I was playing wing man for a friend - I am a good person). Let me first be clear, there were only about 10 people at this party and everyone was roughly my age, so theoretically an okay situation - though suburban. While my friend's friends had all been frat brothers together, it was at Carnegie Mellon so not exactly of your Animal House variety.

There was a keg of green beer. They were playing "beer pong" with said beer.

What I think would actually be most offensive to real beer drinkers, is that it was Miller lite beer that had been dyed green not some sort of real beer. Beer Pong, for those of you not in the know, is when cups of beer are set up at opposite ends of a table and teams try to get a ping pong ball in to the other teams cups. Then that team has to drink the beer. I have never seen anything quite so juvenile in my life. I did not participate. (shocking)

It's good to have certain things about oneself confirmed every now and again. I don't like suburbs. I don't like parties where green beer is served and beer pong played in the garage. Good to know.

I spent the afternoon wandering around in the glorious spring weather and met up with my Romanian fellow to show her Georgetown (over-flowing with people not surprisingly). We had an amazing discussion about the differences in how work is produced in our respective countries. I continue to be amazed by their methods. They currently have 48 shows in rep. 48. The popular ones will be performed twice a month with about 6 new shows added each season. Apparently it's hardest to market the new ones because people like the old ones so much. So for her the concept of doing a play for 3 or 4 weeks and then never again if foreign and wasteful (which it is of course). But I can't really imagine how you store the sets and costumes for 48 plays, doing three or four different ones in a week.

Other than that...yup, still tired. Am supposed to go out tonight but as the time ticks on I feel closer and closer to bailing...we'll see...

I am very tired. We opened show #3 yesterday, had dress rehearsal for show #1 today and start tech for show #2 tomorrow. It's a little crazy. However I have tomorrow off so I'm having lunch with the Romania State Dept fellow who I've ignored all week. Plus it's supposed to be lovely out so I may just sit outside and get some vitamin D.

Actually before the dress rehearsal, 9 of us fellows plus a few hangers-on sat on the patio at 600. It was lovely. And because it's a bar that no one else ever goes to, it was easy to get a table. And believe me patio space is at a premium in this town (worse than Toronto I think because there are fewer of them).

Sort of overshadowing my tiredness though was that my supervisor pretty much offered me a job tonight. It was very odd and casual (and this was after I essentially called him a bad manager so maybe he's a gluten for punishment...) but he said, you know you could always come back next season for Sondheim if you are looking for work. So yeah. Not saying I'd want to do it and it would only be for four months or something but it's certainly nice to be asked. Or sort of asked.

Okay that's it for tonight...oh but again thank you everyone for the email and voicemail well wishes. I'm sorry I haven't replied to everyone yet, it's the whole back to back 15 hour days thing that's getting in my way - but it's much appreciated.

My day...

This was the awesome cake that one of my fellow fellows made me and presented me with in marketing class this morning. And they all sang O Canada!! They even each had the sheet music and everything. I had no idea, it was a complete surprise. It was very touching...

The Smithsonian thing was half great and half a dud. We then went for Italian (see, still have to find the appropriate ethnic venue on my birthday...) and 14 people ended up coming. I didn't think I knew 14 people in DC! It was actually a really good day.

Not to make you all jealous, but all the patios opened today. Yes, there is a benefit to life in the south. Of course I spent all of five minutes outside today and by the time I left work it was dark but still!

I don't know if i've mentioned it, but the KC runs this international arts manager exchange for the State Dept where they bring in groups of art managers from around the world to spend a week or so with us and then they travel to NYC and points across the US. It's a pretty fantastic program by the looks of things. They have paired us each with one of these arts managers so that we can be a friendly face, have lunch etc. Mine is a young woman from Romania. She is lovely but very earnest. It's striking how the old Soviet regime still permeates their society. Her theatre is state run. She is the only manager under the age of 60 - and one of the only women. They have 100 actors on salary, however these actors are paid whether they show up or not. So you try rehearsing something when you can't guarantee what cast you will have. And there is nothing they can do about it. She said that they plan about 3 weeks in advance (yes, I said weeks!!).

Another of these managers is from Columbia who runs a chamber music orchestra that is owned by their national bank. Again, it's all government run so often when the music administration has an opening, it is filled internally so they end up with someone who had intended to work for a bank trying to stage manage a concert. The vast differences in models from the 11 participants was stunning. One came from Haiti where her music school (the only one in the country) was destroyed in the earthquake. She told us how they went and played a concert at one of the tent cities that have been created and 500 people heard them. After they finished their classical repertoire they played some Michael Jackson (!!!) and everyone danced! What an amazing story. One of our fellow fellows is going to try and get her former orchestra to donate instruments and music stands and things since the school lost everything.

We aren't going to have too much interaction with them but even this small connection is amazing and makes the arts world that much smaller.

Oh I should say thank you to everyone else who has now sent me chocolate! It is a lesson that perhaps next time I should send out a call for money (NO don't send me money!) or employment or a condo just to see what happens. Tomorrow I'm leaving work early to head to my lecture at the Smithsonian and then I believe some of my fellow family will be joining me for a beverage. Should be a nice day I think...

The last two days have been better at work. I still don't relish the next five weeks honestly, but at least I think I'm making myself heard a bit. And one day I'll be less tired. I'm sad though that I am without witticisms or insight this evening.

Observations on the day:

1-I guess we had more rain on the weekend than I thought as the Potomac is rising and they've blocked off part of the path along the river for fear that it will over-spill its banks and flood.

2-For some reason the box office staff have all decided that they think I'm the greatest thing ever and so now when I drop off orders it takes about 15 minutes to get out again. They want to do my favours and bend over backwards to do whatever I want. Don't get me wrong, I have always professed that the box office staff are the most important in any theatre company, in this case though, I just find it odd.

3 - Monday there is no happy hour at the 600. I had no idea. I guess I'm rarely working late on Monday (as I was tonight) so I haven't actually bought a drink there. Yup, tonight $9 rye and gingerale. Seriously not worth it! And a bit of a shock since I was expecting it to be $4. Sigh. I'll be wealthy again one day. And by wealthy I mean employed...

Nerd Nite

I finally attended the much talked about and always sold out Nerd Nite DC. It's held at my favourite dive bar DC9, so I thought it was bound to be cool. It was in fact a bit lame. To be fair, the venue is not great for this sort of thing where you have a speaker and a powerpoint presentation but since you are in a bar set up for rock bands, the screen is on a different wall from the stage so the audience has to swivel back and forth to see alternately the speaker and the presentation.

And I guess just because you are smart (or not, the second dude was a twit. No wonder he is an unemployed anthropologist) does not mean you can give a good lecture. So we stayed for two out of three and then took off. It's unfortunate because the premise - have short lectures about quirky and interesting things in bars - I think is a good one. Learning with alcohol! Perhaps I should start up something similar upon my return to Toronto upstairs at the Vic. Hmmmm...

Tomorrow I work. However, I'm now going in early so I'll be out by 3 or so instead of working until 11. Which is good. I counted today and at longest this crazy schedule will last 5 weeks - with things letting up a bit after 3...so I should be able to survive...I hope...

Last night after an insane day preparing for the first preview of show #3 (which opens first if you recall), I went to see Christoph Eschenbach (our future musical director and principal conductor of the NSO) conduct Verdi's Requiem. Wow is all I can say. Good things are in store for this orchestra. Of course the Post's critic hated it but she seems to hate everything that the NSO does.

Verdi is over the top - we had trumpets playing from the second balcony, a 150+ member chorus singing, 4 soloists...it was impressive. The Concert Hall's acoustics are not the best, but for the first time the NSO filled the room with sound. It was like they were all trying to play a little better and bigger than normal. As an aside the two male soloists really need new headshots - sorry boys but we can tell you've aged 15 years. Men seem to do this more often than women. At least male singers anyway.

My favourite quote of the night was when one of my fellow fellows remarked that they didn't like it, Kentucky fellow said "It's about the end of the world, of course it's depressing!"

In the morning we had our first seminar with the KC's chief legal counsel. I do sometimes wonder if I should have pursued that whole law school thing more vigorously when I thought of it because I find all this stuff fascinating.

I have to say though I think I've hit a wall where I need a vacation because most of my fellow fellows are driving me nuts. In the seminars we have, there's one fellow who just won't shut up (I mean seriously, we are taking up the time of a very highly paid person at least show some basic courtesy), one of the others always forgets the work we are supposed to bring with us and so always needs to borrow from someone else - I mean I feel like I'm in grade school sometimes. Anyway, I have the day off to myself today so hopefully I will get my equilibrium back before Monday. I'm going to work tomorrow but should be without fellows at least.

I've developed this very bad habit of leaving things at intermission. I could have counted on one hand the number of times I did that in my whole life before moving here, now it's a pretty regular occurrence. Which is very rude FYI and you shouldn't do it!!

Tonight it was the Ford's Theatre dress rehearsal of Little Shop of Horrors. It actually was better than I expected it to be (but then they are a company with a $10 million budget who only do five shows a year so...they've got some money to spend), my departure had more to do with being deadly tired and knowing that tomorrow is going to be a very long day.

My main criticism actually was their over-use of their revolve. I swear at one point it was making me dizzy, everything was whirling around the stage so quickly. They also rented the "official" Aubrey II plants from NY and frankly, I didn't like them. Ours at Canstage were much better. Their voice of Aubrey II was also seen on stage, which I just found weird. However, some neat costume design (again, a LOT of money) and decent performers. (though Patty Zee as our Aubrey was far superior in my mind...)

Anyway, leaving was the right decision, cause you know, 3 shows are more work than 1!!! This week is tech for show 3 which opens next week. Next week is tech for show 2 which opens the week following and that week is tech for show 2. It's ridiculous.

OH I forgot to add CHOCOLATE arrived today from England which is exciting on two fronts:

a) chocolate and b) British chocolate which is far superior to any other!!! Thank you Aunty She!!

No Jacket Required

At risk of jinxing myself, the weather has been stunning the last two days - sunny and about 64 F with no humidity. Beautiful. Fingers crossed we don't get any last blast of winter in March, which I'd be expecting if this was Toronto. I think it should just be rainy...

I'm home tonight before 8 for the first time in ages. I'm momentarily going to get in to my PJs and watch the Amazing Race on Hulu. Bliss. By that I mean, I'm going to get in to my PJs in a moment, not that I will only stay in them for one!

Funny Trader Joe's moment of the day: Blarney Scones! I didn't think to stop and kiss one however...

Unbelievable security today at work. There is a special event happening in one of the spaces - I'm not entirely clear what it was - but the sweep of the building started yesterday and by the end of the afternoon, the section of the building where my office is was in lock down. It's hard to do a load in under these conditions! I'm not sure if something happened to spur this, but apparently this level of uber-security is going to be the norm going forward when certain VIPs are present. I don't want to write too much about specifics, but it was seriously impressive what was going on. We had to give the actors the "just do whatever they tell you" speech so that none of them gave any lip to the secret service and ended up bench pressed against the wall. Though one or two of them I wouldn't mind seeing that happen to (the 3rd group is not endearing themselves. Of course it's the show with no stars or actors of note. I already want to slap them - see it's been a long time since I've done Company Management!! I have no patience for idiots any longer. And I don't think I ever had much...) They will be gone by Easter though so I'm trying to focus on that!

So tonight instead of going home after work like I should have, I went to see a play by an Irish theatre company (fishamble: the new play company). fishamble is run by a former fellow - now we begin to see the motley band of brothers that the fellowship is - and the show was brought to NYC and DC by the Irish embassy and various arts councils. It was a one man show and certainly interesting enough for me to still be thinking about it now. I thought he was very good at his female characters but it was hard to tell his men apart. And there were these odd kabuki influenced things going on that I just didn't get, but the New Yorker liked it apparently, so what do I know. It was at least short (80 minutes no intermission!).

Work was non-stop today but I am hopeful that I'm almost on top of it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do something major like forget to book someone's hotel room leaving them homeless on the streets of DC, but well I just keep double checking everything in hopes I catch it before it happens. The end of the week gets tricky though because all my classes and seminars happen Wed- Fri so it's hard to juggle it all. I'm working on finding my zen and my horoscope the last few days has been version of "be brave!" so I'm trying! I really could use a good yoga class. My mat sits under my desk at work..sad sad sad....

We have determined the correct terminology when referring to groups of fellows (as a lone fellow is a rare sighting indeed). 3 or more is a gaggle, 6 or more is a flock. I like flock of fellows...

Because I didn't want to have spent the entire weekend at work, at the end of the day yesterday, a friend and I made a quick jaunt over to Arlington where the Iwo Jima memorial is. Officially, it is the US Marine Corp Memorial, but everyone calls it Iwo Jima because it is that iconic image.

It's very impressive up close I have to say. Though it really bugged my friend that one of the "conflicts" listed on it was referred to as "the war between the States" as opposed to "the Civil War". In the south, the Civil War is apparently referred to as "The War of Northern Aggression", whereas I've heard northerners call it "the war of Southern Stupidity".

This evening we had a welcome reception for the 3 plays. It was at the home of the KC's CEO, which happens to be a 3 storey penthouse condo. It was a beautiful place as you can imagine - and the art work was, well, I think David Mirvish has a more extensive collection, but I'm not sure I've come across another like it otherwise. Surprisingly small kitchen, but I guess with these sorts of homes, you have your events catered. (which this was of course...)

Otherwise I'm pooped and it's only Monday...I'm too old for this company management stuff!!

(oh, but one very cool thing is that I will have my name in the playbills for these 3 shows...that's pretty neat I have to admit).

Small World

So the musical director on one of these shows is also Canadian. I went to high school with his older brother. Go figure. Put two Canadians in one place and we are bound to know each other...
I'm trying to remember if I actually liked his brother...I think I was indifferent, so that's okay.

the Banana Room

So I'm spending a beautiful spring day inside what we call the Banana Room - the production office for the McNally plays. It's called the Banana Room because it used to be painted bright yellow - it isn't now but the name stuck and there is a commenorative banana statue in the corner. It's technically on the 2nd floor of the Opera House, which is actually 9 floors up I discovered today (we are up the fly tower somewhere) because the elevator is broken. Weeeee!!
However, this is where making friends with the stage door staff comes in handy and he showed me the quick way to the other set of elevators that will get you up here. Not that I couldn't walk up nine flights of stairs, I just didn't want to at 8:30 in the morning.
I'm looking forward to next week being over since the 3rd show arrives and I think that's when all hell is going to break loose. I'm working on re-finding my zen place about this whole thing and to try and remember that I don't have to take on what I normally would. Not my job! Goddamn work ethic...
Anyway, touchwood the rest of the afternoon will pass smoothly and quietly...

Among the things I did this week was buy cake twice for people whose birthdays it wasn't. First on Monday, I bought my intern Christopher Robin (not his name, just what I call him) cake because I'd been informed that it was his birthday. Not so! It's next week. And then, rather more spectacularly, I bought a cake (full size) for the director of one of our shows thinking it was his birthday. Had the cast sing to him, the pianist play along...yup. Again, not so much the right day. That time it was because of the American way of doing numeric dates - they do month/day/year and in England it's day/month/year and in Canada it's all over the place. So I got it wrong (his actual birthday being April 3rd not March 4th). But I figure if you are going to screw up, it might as well involve cake.

I think I may have told this story already, but I'm so tired, I can't even be bothered to go back and check!! So apologies, if I have.

I stayed for the first half of the Mariinsky Opera's War and Peace. In my defense, the first half was two hours long and I'm working all day tomorrow so... It was the final dress rehearsal so it had some odd technical things going on - mainly that the director was on stage the whole time checking furniture (which he mostly seemed dissatisfied with), telling the extras where to move, standing in for at least two main characters who were absent for some reason or other and conducting the orchestra. It was quite something to see! A big deal had been made about their set - a huge revolve that was set on a very steep rake (this leading to the furniture not sitting properly and some of the drops not landing as they should). So steep in fact that many of the actors were having huge trouble walking on it without tripping or appearing drunk. The whole thing was quite strange. I'm glad to have seen what I did, but not at all sad that I left.

There is a lot going on with some of my dear friends in Toronto - I'm thinking of you guys...

So the good news is I think I fixed the problem that I caused when I was trying to do something to prevent another future problem which would have cost us (the KC that is) money, so I no longer feel like vomiting because of it - which I did feel like for the last 24 hours.

I'm extremely stressed.

It's not that this is work that particularly hard or that I haven't done before, it's just that the fellows work takes up about 15 hours a week which leaves me trying to do a full time job in 20 hours, which just isn't possible which leads me to be extraordinarily stressed out about it.
Of course, I'm also trying to do more work than I have information for and I have zero authority so really I shouldn't give a sh*t at all, however, sadly, I have this stupid work ethic thing going. Dumb really. And well, I just didn't want to totally mess up doing stuff for the KC.
Sigh.
Okay, off to War and Peace now...

Very tired. Working way too hard! But home early tonight and so am sitting on my bed in my pjs watching bad television on Hulu - it could be worse that's for sure.

Today I coached one of the actors on French pronunciation - nothing tricky "aux deux" I can handle confidently "quel bon supris" as well, so we are covered there. Regardless they will say it better than they did before.

Show number 3 begins its load in tomorrow. They come to us last but open first since they already had a run in Philly. Next week is going to be beyond crazy. However, I am insisting on always having Sunday off and this weekend of course must prepare for the Oscars!! No Oscar pool at the KC which is disappointing. I had thought of starting one but ran out of energy. I've seen maybe two of the movies myself so I decided to let it go this year - though it is way more fun to watch when you've bet on something.

Okay, short one tonight...g'night.

oh and...

A shout out to my "little" brother whose birthday it is Wednesday :-)

Okay, this one is going to be short as i have to do my finance homework which I should have done/intended to do Sunday afternoon but watched the hockey game instead. Oops.

Americans are not gracious losers. Many, many snarky comments about "well how well does Canada do at the SUMMER Olympics" like that has anything to do with it. Anyway, I rise above.

Work is a madhouse. I'm exhausted. I've spent two days assisting our star of one of our 3 plays in finding new accommodation - she's very nice so it's all fine and after tomorrow it should all be sorted out, but it's been very time consuming. Again I wonder how they would be functioning if it wasn't me in this rotation (as there has been no "training" offered and there is a great expectation that the work will just get done) I think I may have to complain soon, but I'm too tired to do so now. Not to toot my own horn (but hey, it's my blog I can toot if I want to!!) but today I convinced one sold out hotel to somehow come up with a room (and not any room, a specific room) for an artist and another hotel to let another artist leave with no notice without any penalty. Now calling from the KC helps of course but I do think I'm somewhat of a rock star for pulling it all off. Early days yet of course, the truth will out over the next 10...which are going to be brutal. Send chocolate!! Send wine!!!

Last night I went to see Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. First half of the concert was amazing - Count Basie and "old testament" classics as they called them. It was fantastic. The second half ....well.... not so much. Certainly not bad by any stretch as these musicians are amazing it's just that they were playing new music composed by one of their members - a sax/flute player named Ted Nash - and well it was not my cup of tea. It was all based on different painters and I think it would have been less annoying if we hadn't had his very rudimentary descriptions of these artists ("Monet was an Impressionist"). Also, jazz flute? Really? Not my thing. However, I was so glad to have been able to see them. It's hard to get in to the jazz at the KC because it all sells out, so I like to take any opportunity I can to see whatever it is on offer.

Okay, must go, Defensive Interval Ratios await...