🎼Happy In My 2nd Life, Headset On, I Could Be Anything…🎶

Hello Gentle Reader!

Life is quick and fleeting. You blink and a season is gone. You can busy yourself to the point that a whole year has gone by faster than you feel like it should have.

But you already know this. None of this is news… right?

A lot of time at work I am clock watching, just hoping to leave my survival job to be turned loose onto the world to play with whatever idea my brain has an itching for. Sometimes the scratch feels so nice it becomes a passing hobby. Then sometimes that hobby entangles you in its web of intrigue, detail or escape. Then sometimes it can swallow you up and fuel you as you burn the candle at both ends learning, doing, becoming.

And then, when you come up for air, Dear Reader, you find that time has become a stranger to you. Well to me. Nieces and nephews sprout like corn stalks, Mom looks a little more sleepy, Hubby is a little shorter and Dad becomes a little quieter. I wonder to myself, “was I being selfish to follow this passion of mine to the floors of so many different stages? To meet literally hundreds of people? To tell stories to people that may change someone’s heart?”

How could I not see all of these changes to the people that mean the most? So I decided that I was going to actually have my cocoon year that I wrote about a bit ago…

and I was going to include the last quarter of this year as an added bonus!

A glorious 15 month hiatus is in the books for me and it begins very very soon! Already I can feel that this was the correct choice. On Sunday, it was the first night where I didn’t go to bed thinking about what my character’s childhood was like, or how he would react if the stakes were only life and death or his relationship with the donut guy who is only in one scene. I didn’t stop to think when I could find time the next day to study my script.

And I slept through the entire night.

I couldn’t believe it myself. My overactive brain, shut off like it was supposed to and I slept.

When I woke up on Monday morning, I noticed immediately that something was different. Here’s a small confession, Kind Reader, I always wake up a little grumpy. For like the first 30 minutes of the day or my shower which is one of the first things I do. My step was a little peppier. The day felt pleasant, even the sunshine was welcomed when I opened the curtains in the living room.

Some people don’t think I can stay away. And they may be right, but it won’t be to be on the stage. Maybe I will pop in to help friends learn lines or just to support the rehearsal hall one night a week. I am not expecting to fall out of the community, I am just going to refrain from committing to any shows so that I can run away for the weekend if my whims should demand me to. 🤭

In my survival job, we accrue sabbaticals over time, so I am just taking a small sabbatical from theatre while I learn some new tricks and try to do a little exploring. Strengthen my familial bonds and create more familial bonds with my dearest friends since they are already like family. I guess this is my bondage era… wait that came out wrong. 😳

Thanks so much for offering me up a little bit of your time, Gentle Reader. I appreciate you and it. I would love to hear from you about something you are looking forward to. Something I am excited about is the fall season. I think next month I will do a 30 Days of Noir and of course October is 30 Days of Horror. November could be 30 Days of Rom-Coms, but that is still up in the air.

Let me know what you have coming up that you are excited for!? Until next time, stay safe and alert and take care of yourself and those you care about.

❤️

Time Goes By, So Slowly…

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Hello Dearest Reader!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving 🍗 holiday, if you celebrate.

Oh my stars! 😜 It has been a crazy couple of weeks. We held our auditions and callbacks for Smojo’s. We got the casting done along with phone calls out to potential cast by lunch time by the end of the second day of callbacks! 👍

The amount of talent that we had audition was amazing. We could easily have double cast the show. Possibly even triple cast it. Saying I am beyond excited to work with this group of people is a massive understatement.

It was tough to make the final cuts though. We had such close competition for all roles except our bass for the quartet. I think I really lucked out with the team that I have for Smojo’s.

We looked at EVERY THING! 👀 We had to. That’s how close it was. We looked at how they handled their audition songs and/or the callback songs, how they adjusted to direction, interactions on and off the stage with one another, and conflicts. 👀

I just finished a preliminary rehearsal schedule that is crazy aggressive but I fully believe that we can easily get it done.

In other news, Gentle Reader, I have finally had a chance to see the madness that is the Star Wars Christmas Special! OH. MY. STARS! 😱 What madness, indeed… 😂

Tonight begins rehearsals for “The Making of the Star Wars Christmas Special” at Dragon Production Theatre in Redwood City. 💖 I am incredibly excited to be a part of this little bit of “holiday” insanity. 🎄 What makes it even more nerve wracking is that the Mayor of the city is excited to see it. No pressure. Oh, and I am playing Carol Channing for a scene! I am way too excited for that. LOL

In #survivaljob news, I popped into my shop for Black Friday to complete an inventory count because the building was closed and it was kind of nice to complete a massive project under the time limit that I allowed myself. 🕑

I wonder if that is why I figured we can fit our Smojo’s schedule 📆 to what I’ve pitched to my team? Speaking of minimized time, “Star Wars Christmas” is only a 3 week rehearsal period and one weekend of shows. 😓

I heard that time slows down the more you are moving, so I am giving it all to the Universe. My hope is that I can fit in everything I need to do in the next 3 months.

If you would be so kind, Dear Reader, can you cross your fingers for me? 💖

When I survive this first project, I will write again. Expect a LOT of images of SWCS on my Insta!

Cheers and until next time… LOL! Get it? Time… (I’m a dork. LOL)

Can you believe 2013 is right around the corner?

I want to keep it light today. Light as in upbeat and optimistic. I’ve noticed that in many posts, while I have been praising things like theatre, I often turn a little dark, sometimes a little angry, somewhere toward the end. So let’s stay bouncy today!

As we near the halfway mark of 2012, lots of people are going about their lives as usual. I’m sure at one time or another have used some form of the phrase: “is it ___________ already?” Most of the time I’ve used it when hours are just flying by…or not. I heard myself today saying it about July! And it wasn’t just once or twice. I think I may have started every new conversation with it. “Can you believe we are in July already?” Sometimes, I can’t believe it, but that really doesn’t change the fact that it is, so what’s the use believing or not.

Then I started thinking how it’s already practically 2013!! Now that the 4th is over, August is going to fly by, then comes Labor Day. Soon fall will arrive and bring with it Halloween. My favorite time of the year. I go around and randomly sing the phrase “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” Nipping at it’s heels is Thanksgiving and Christmas just barges right in!. Then voila, we are back to New Year’s Day.

I tell you these next 6 months are going to scream on by.

Yes, I know there’s the whole Aztec Calendar worry, but I just think we will discover something new and how we once thought will need to change. That’s all. Kinda like all the people thinking the Earth was flat. Then when they learned it wasn’t thinking was adjusted. No big. I have a feeling it will be something like that.

I don’t really have any plans for any of the holidays as of the moment, but I usually don’t celebrate them anyway.

The thing that we love to do, my friends and I, is to gather at one of our little apartments and have a pot luck. The great thing is that we are all under the same roof and sharing in one another’s company. Such good times, with such amazing people.

Man, now I want the holidays to be here NOW! hahaha.

What’s your favorite holiday? Has it passed or are we fast approaching it? Do you share in my love for Halloween? Oh, let’s discuss!!

Until next time….

What do I do now?

Opening night of Sweet Charity had it’s share of hiccups, like both acts beginning late, and a few missed cues. However, for the most part it was a good performance. The basic comment that I got about the dancing, which I was expecting, was that the dances need tightening. I spent so much time in rehearsals going over every single step in detail (sometimes multiple times) that there wasn’t much time to actually run the dances. So that comment was something that I was expecting. One of the things that surprised me the most was that even with the problems that we had, most everyone said that the choreography was good. And, a director friend said that she will keep me in mind the next time she has a chance to direct. So while I am happy about that, I feel bad that I couldn’t give the cast more opportunities to run the dances.

On Sunday, I volunteered to usher. As I was waiting, I poked inside the audience and watched the warm ups. The cast was doing the vocal warm ups which was followed by a running of Brass Band. I watched this very closely, and what I saw was strange. I turned to my partner, who was also ushering, and asked, “Are they performing this better than they did last night?” To which, his response was “I was just thinking that!” I hate to assume, but I am venturing to guess that nerves were playing a part in the show on Saturday night.

Regardless, I wouldn’t mind giving them the chance to run the numbers a few more times to boost their confidence in the steps, and to tighten up the performances. There hasn’t been a mention of a brush up rehearsal on Thursday night, but I will be happy to be there.

Now that Sweet Charity is officially opened, I don’t know what I am going to do with all my time!

Of course I am kidding. I will be trying to set up meetings with other companies, requesting interviews with more people, and researching more stuff that inspires.

Hey, maybe I’ll dust off the instruments. Don’t get the reference? Take a listen to the podcast.

Until next time,

Break a leg!