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October 31, 2005
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Less than two hours to go until NaNoWriMo begins. I'm so ready to start typing. Going crazy, really, waiting for the moment.
I have my Eeyore ears. I have my feather boa. I have my Tootsie Roll Midgees (480 of them).
I am good to go, baby.
Posted by sally at 11:23 PM
These Boots
Lets talk about my boots. Specifically, a pair of brown Rockports I bought at the Nordstrom Rack in 1998 or thereabouts. I hiked all over Portland in those boots. I put miles and miles on those boots. In the course of 6 years or so, I logged I don't know how much distance in them. I had them fixed once when the upper started coming away from the sole. The tread on the soles was almost completely worn down in a couple of places, so I haven't worn them in over a year. But they're comfortable. And they look cool. I decided to get them re-soled. Which I can do here in Moscow, since the shoe repair place is somehow associated with Rockport.
They want $60 to repair my wonderful boots.
I paid $32 for them.
I wrestled with the decision for a while. And then I realized that they were, in 1998, $120 boots. But I only paid $32. And I got 6 years of hard walking out of them. If I can get another 6 years out of them for $60 more, I'll still be ahead of the game and I'll have paid less than they're worth for 12 years of going places.
They should be done today.
Posted by sally at 12:43 PM
October 30, 2005
Yesterday
I hit the gym for the first time in 2+ weeks. Finally had the time and the lack of illness. I have got to get my butt into shape. No more slacking. I need to drop at least 30 lbs and 3 sizes. Period. No arguments, no excuses. And at the same time, I have to rebuild my right leg. Slowly and steadily. So annoying that I have to take that into consideration. GrrrrrrrrRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr.
**********
We had our first performance of the remount of 1K Cranes. It was okay, I think. We were all a bit flustered because the audience began wandering in about 15 minutes after we began setting up. So no real warmups for the cast, and we built the set and placed props, etc. in full view of the audience. (We did change in the bathrooms, but still, we had to walk through the crowd in costume to get to the set.) And then we started 15 minutes early, so that kind of added to the weirdness of the whole thing.
I feel as though I have lost the passion of the piece. Or disconnected from the story or something. We had some long pauses, train-crossing pauses, many of which were, I think, my fault. This last summer, we were like a machine. Not in a bad, going through the motions kind of way, but in a precise, well-oiled, everyone was where they needed to be at the exact right moment kind of way. And we had a run-time that varied by no more than 30 seconds. It was insane how accurate we were. I've missed that during this whole remount process.
I know that I am at the very least 1/3 responsible for it, though probably closer to 1/2. But I can't figure out how to get my timing back.
**********
Yesterday evening was a line rehearsal for Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, one of the directing scenes I'm in. My scene partner is wonderful. He has so much raw talent, mostly just needing some channeling and discipline so that he can re-create things at will. But he's incredibly smart and really connected and self-aware for someone so young. I don't recall being that self-aware when I was 20.
I love working with this guy. Rehearsals are a joy, and that's such a gift when it happens. I come home alight, and now I want to do the full play. I just have to find a director and a partner who's closer to the right age. (Johnny is closer to 50 than 20). Hopefully I can find someone with the same kind of talent and drive and overall niceness that James (my scene partner) has. I have someone in mind, but he may not be available, and let's face it, the talent pool here is pretty limited once you get over the age of about 25.
Posted by sally at 10:09 AM
October 28, 2005
I Just Finished the Sweetest Book
And by "sweetest," I do not mean twee or saccharine. I mean a lovely, kind, thoughtful, gentle, hopeful novel. It's the kind of story where you go back and read the last few pages several times because they are so perfect and because you don't want the pleasure of the book to end.
The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
It's going in my stack of books to read to Dave.
Speaking of which, we finished Thud! last night. Brilliant, brilliant book. (Though we did both agree that it felt a bit hurriedly written/edited.) Once again, Terry Pratchett has written a story that kept us reading until the middle of the night because there was no place to stop (I think we read the last third of Night Watch in one go and finally finished around 3am). We just had to keep reading. No choice. No one was sleeping until we knew what happened next. And what happened after that. And after that. And how they dealt with the results of that. And what they discovered then. And how that changed things. And what happened next.
It will be a sad, sad day when we know for sure that I'll never get to do the voices of Sargeant Colon, Nobby Nobbs, Angua, Carrot, Cheery Littlebottom, Detritus, Lady Sybill, Lord Vetinari and Sam Vimes again in a new book.
Next on the list, Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. And then once that's done, there's Karl Hiassen's new kids' book Flush, With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed by Lynne Truss, Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club, and the little gem of a novel I just finished.
Posted by sally at 12:03 PM
October 27, 2005
I Didn't Get It
The Rabold went to a fella. A very talented fella who really wanted it, and who will gain a great deal from the experience and opportunity, but a fella nonetheless.
Not me.
Ah well. Time to focus on other things, then.
Posted by sally at 10:33 AM
October 25, 2005
Man, I Hate This
I always manage to give myself roughly 1/2 hour extra in which to get vomitously nervous. I never, ever, ever seem to plan an audition prep so that I am actually ready just a couple of minutes before it's time to leave. I'm always ready 30-45 minutes earlier than that.
I have run my monologues. I have worked the problem spots. I'm just waiting for my hair to dry at this point. And I don't need to leave the house for another, what, 40 minutes.
Wish me luck. I'm up at 6:24.
Posted by sally at 04:48 PM
October 24, 2005
Monday Monday (dah DAH dahdahdahdah)
I’m writing from the best coffee shop in Moscow. I decided to give myself breakfast out as a special treat for 1) actually getting up in the morning and 2) having a killer rehearsal for my OSF auditions last night.
I’m working on a couple of things re: the auditions. A former acting coach of mine pointed out in August that for the first time since she’s known me, I wasn’t using my thighs for the Shakespeare. Since I was deep in the groin pull/jammed pelvis problem, it’s not surprising. However, I want to be sure that’s not happening now, that I am acting with my whole body, specifically my thighs (and Shakespeare is all about the thighs, baby), so I was doing grande plies while reciting my monologues last night. Feel the burn. Recite the Bard. Whoosh.
I am also working on honesty in my work. It’s taken me quite some time (and an interaction with that same former coach) to recognize/understand what this means. I’m good at presentation, at technique, at surface. Good enough to convince audiences that I'm feeling everything. I need to find ways to bring the core forth and be honest. And I know when that is happening. I can feel the truth when I let it out. So I worked really hard at getting there last night.
The monologue in question is one of Helena’s from Midsummer Night’s Dream. Though it’s a funny play, it’s not necessarily a funny monologue. She’s just been rejected by the person she loves more than anything. He’s threatened to kill her if she follows him anymore, and he’s left her in an enchanted forest, in the dark, alone. I wanted to make sure, though, that I wasn’t overdoing the “Woe Is Meeeeeee!” portion of the piece, since misinterpreting what is going on would be deadly, even in the name of honest emotion.
So when, after I had been working on it for about an hour and a half, Dave came into my office and asked how it was going, I mumbled in a way that suggested the work was troublesome. He said, “Would you like me to see it?” I hesitated while I thought about it. I hate showing my work to anybody before I feel it’s where I want it to be, but Dave has a good eye for the problem spots and a great sense of how to fix them. And if you can't trust your spouse to be honest and compassionate, you can't trust anybody. So I said yes.
I explained the piece for him first, my sense that it’s not funny until the reversal at the end, my concerns about going too far with the hurt and despair in a way that sabotages the ending or makes the reversal unbelievable. And then I did it.
He was dead silent while it was going on. I was so afraid that meant he didn’t like it, that I was going about it all wrong. But when I finished, he laughed. He did like it. And the one place I had trouble with, where I knew something else had to happen but didn’t know what that something was, was the one place he identified as being problematic. And then he explained how he thought it might be fixed. Not only was he right, but in thinking about it, I came up with a great way to solve the problem using that inner truth I'm trying to reveal.
I was exhausted after that, so I called it quits for the evening. But today is all about working stuff, people. I’ve got to be sure I can call on the emotional connections tomorrow evening when it counts. So I treated myself to breakfast at One World to be sure I would get my butt out of bed, but also to assure that I would not spend all day practicing avoidance tactics on the computer.
So that’s all you’re going to hear from me today.
Posted by sally at 11:00 AM
October 23, 2005
I Just Can't Stop
I forgot to mention this. I saw it at the building supply store when I went to get bookcase paint.
John, I want you to know that I am not getting you this for your birthday. But it's taking huge amounts of willpower to stand by that decision.
Posted by sally at 12:38 PM
Oh My God I Have Got to Finish Something
I am surrounded by projects in progress. Directing scenes, auditions, a play remount that opens on the 29th. Artist Trading Cards. Two study guides for touring children's theatre. A chalkboard for the kitchen. A bookcase. Garden beds. But every time I try, something gets in my way.
I finally decide on my OSF pieces, start working them and get a cold. I finally get the whole jammed pelvis/groin pull thing fixed and get a cold so I can't work out right now either. Because, as we all know from previous experience, my colds have a nasty way of turning into pneumonia.
I have a jammed pelvis/groin pull problem that takes 4 months to straighten out because of my knee and it severely limits not only my knee rehab, but also my ability to work in the garden. And the fact that the colds (I've had two in the last month) keep me from being able to work out means that I'm feeling depressed about my physical condition, I'm not losing weight I expected to be able to lose by now, and my knee rehab is still not happening.
The list of things that get in the way of other things goes on and on and on and on and on. I feel overwhelmed and thwarted at every turn by fate, and my own body, and so I retreat into escapist tactics and less and less gets done.
But I figure if I can finish something, I can use it to remind myself that I am capable of finishing things. At least that's the plan. Plus, maybe I can get back to the gym by Wednesday.
Posted by sally at 12:19 PM
Polyform Is Back!
My friend Paul has begun updating his blog again. I'm so glad. We occasionally exchange actual pen and paper epistles, but busy lives tend to limit the frequency of writing. I love knowing that I can once again read about his life and observations several times a week.
Posted by sally at 10:46 AM
October 22, 2005
The View from Here
Is mostly of the garage wall. That is, if I look out the window straight ahead of me. From my desk, I can also look out the window to my right and see the back porch, two flowerbeds, a rose in a pot, Ruby's fence and leaves all over the lawn.
This is the view to my left:
Sunbeam Trifecta
The point of this entry is that as I sit here at my desk, being domestic, removing spam from my blog comments and banning IP addresses, wishing I didn't have to prepare for this stupid OSF audition because, I have a cold and am not in the best condition to be working on these things, but mostly because, let's face it, I'm not going to get it: 1) because I'm female and 2) because I'm now 38, which is, in my misguided profession, old beyond imagining, and so I'd really rather be doing the prep for my novel, I can see Dave moving about in the garage (and how's that for a run-on sentence, but it's how my mind is working right now, so move over James Joyce).
I can't see him all of the time, though, because my view out the window in front of me is mostly of the garage wall. Up which I really do intend to plant these absolutely gorgeous blue morning glories.
However, I can also see into the garage through part of a window there, and every so often Dave's silhouette moves across it, in shadow because the main garage door is open. I wonder what he's doing in/out there.
He may be finishing my bookcase. We bought a whole bunch of plays and anthologies last night, and I pointed out that the play bookcase in my office is now officially full, except for a bunch of language/rhetoric/communication books on the bottom shelf. Which means that my new bookcase/windowseat needs to be finished. Once we finish it, I can move the non-play books from their current shelf to another spot in the room and give the remaining plays that currently don't fit a home with the rest of their kind. (This includes those plays you are storing next to the bed, David.)
Posted by sally at 11:33 AM
October 20, 2005
Wonderful
I had an amazing rehearsal last night. I'm in a couple of scenes for the directing class. As part of their coursework, student directors apply their talents to actual scenes. They were short actors this year, so I volunteered to be used if needed. I'm in two scenes.
One of them is from Frankie and Johnny, which is a play I love anyhow, and I am having a wonderful time. I'm working with a fellow who is ostensibly slightly older than half my age (a friend refers to this as my Mrs. Robinson moment), but he has so much talent it's astonishing. He listens, he's focused, he has huge amounts of energy and he is not afraid to let a moment or a response happen.
We were doing some improvs last night in which the tension was almost a third actor in the room, and he not only didn't try to get out of it (nerves and/or inexperience will do that), he encouraged it. He was playing as hard as I was. It was fantastic.
I feel slightly bad for him because my big, scary husband walked up to him one day shortly after our very first rehearsal and said, "So you're acting with my wife. Behave yourself." So mean. What a huge obstacle to make the poor guy deal with right as he is finding his way in the department. He does seem to have made peace with any demons David may have raised, however.
Posted by sally at 09:02 AM
October 18, 2005
Just for the Record
Among the things I do not like is pulling a coffee cup out of the cupboard to find a great big spider in it. Still alive.
Posted by sally at 06:00 PM
October 13, 2005
One More Cat Picture (Taken Today)
Sillyheaded Quickly (sort of like Shockheaded Peter only without the butchery, music and literary value) wanted to snuggle up in my ancient bomber jacket. She thought she was invisible.
Posted by sally at 03:27 PM
Isn't That Remarkable...
I graduate from college and I become the singlemost boring person in the entire universe.
Actually, that's not true. I just haven't had time to post. But I will, soon, and tell you all about three of the best weeks of my life.
(For those of you who care, the headline is a quote from Death of a Salesman. In the 198- movie version, Dustin Hoffman said the line with wonder, even when the "remarkable" things were tragic. It was beautiful.)
And to prove that life does indeed go on, CAT PICTURES. (And by "CAT PICTURES," I obviously mean pictures of mostly just the one cat.)
I want to make it clear that all of the destruction in this photograph is due to the headless cat.
Guess why this is Katala's favorite spot.
Whut?
I get up for 2 minutes, and this is what I come back to:
Posted by sally at 11:17 AM
October 05, 2005
Dammit, They Lost
But the new rules make the game so fast. It's like watching playoff hockey every game.
Someone is going to have to explain the new line change/icing rule to me, though. I'm not sure how it works yet. (And judging from one of the penalties this evening, neither are the Avs.)
Posted by sally at 09:58 PM
HOCKEY SEASON STARTS TONIGHT
And thanks to my beautiful, beautiful husband, I don't have to miss a game.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
And also a big, old
WOOOOT!
This year, there's the added bonus that I might see someone I know. Steve Glines, a friend of my brother, is working his way up the ranks to be an NHL linesman. This might be his year.
Posted by sally at 09:47 AM
October 02, 2005
CORRECTION
(No, I still have my MFA.)
Moby Dick does not run this coming week. It runs Oct. 12-15. You have another week to plan travel.
And may I say that as good as this whole thing seems to be for Dave, I'm glad it's such a short run. I would like to have a conversation with my husband. On any topic, really. I simply want to have an evening where I can enjoy his actual company again, and not just the idea of it.
Posted by sally at 11:55 AM
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