Baby Steps- SOP

Tonight was the first real rehearsal for SOP. Last night was a read through but mostly some necessary house keeping . Also pictures. You know how I feel about pictures. I don't have high hopes for my shiny spot on the poster. But alas I digress.

Tonight started about as rough as last night started, only instead of getting into some light conflict with the artistic director, tonight I get a call at 7:45 from the AD wondering where I am. See I was suppose to be there at 7:30, which I thought yesterday when they didn't call my name for the Tuesday rehearsal and when I asked about it they joked I hadn't looked at my schedule. Good thing I didn't open that bottle of wine.

Hahahaha

So you know what's hard to do when you lock your car keys AND your phone AND your credit card in your car? Getting stuff on your to-do list done.

Thank GOD I had the good sense to be holding my apt keys or I'd be somewhere out in the rain right now super pissed.

Now excuse me, I have to go harass my boyfriend at work so he can call someone to help me.

*ahem*

Goals: 8 Month Review

So I did this as I usually do. And then I erased most of my comments on my own list and decided I needed to look at it from another perspective. I need to look at the list now as in not what I've done but what I need to do to get it done. B/c I'm almost 29. And I'd like to check some things off!

Just finish already!----------------------------------------------
6. Send 5 birthday cards- Friday Oct 23: Finish and send

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. -Aug Hold
Friday: Find all notes and do a redraft. Make list of what need to find/photographs or otherwise. Shoot November 7th?

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month.
Oct- Saw her in person. Should start November letter now.
Create list of topics to write about for the next few weeks.
November- San Fran stay: gather decent pics of the stay. Especially ones of Z and I, or just me.

Here we go again- Pearls

I start rehearsing a new show a week from Monday. It's Michele Lowe's String of Pearls. Six women play 20-some roles. I was asked to audition and wasn't thrilled about the script, but I love the director and really respect her work. (Really respect her work.) She offered me a part in the cast and it would have been stupid to turn her down. Now that I've spent more time with the script, I realize it would have been stupid in more ways than one.

With our travels and wedding prep, I've neglected doing the necessary work for these parts. But once the 26th hits, my life will revolve around this show. That's just how theater works. So like the many things that consume my thoughts, I will do a lot of musings here. Some will be about the characters (insights, what I'm trying, what works, what doesn't) and of course probably discussion on the other actresses. It is an all woman show. I like these. I like the atmosphere they create. Throw in one man and everything changes. In the past, I've had really good experiences. I hope I do so again.

Final Day- San Fran

Today we ventured out into Berkeley and I expected everything to look like Eugene only...hippier. It failed on that front. What it didn't fail on was having the UC Berkley campus and The Cheese Board. We ate dinner in what they call the Gourmet Ghetto. So yeah. More later (although not pictures b/c I, of course, didn't take any! Bad habits!)

The things that stuck out most to me about Berkeley were:
1. It felt like fall. At first I thought, "Why do I feel this here but not in San Fran?" Then I realized that leaves were changing colors in Berkeley and they're not in San Francisco. Strange, right?

2. Berkeley doesn't give a damn about pedestrians. Driving in San Fran kind of makes me want to pull over and cry, but that said, those same drivers do not hurry their pedestrians. Cars don't push into the cross walk if the little white man is up. They don't honk you to hurry. They let you walk when your sign says walk. Not so in Berkeley.

So that's the teeny tiny write up of that. There will be a full on synopsis when I get back. Tonight we are throwing the last bits and pieces into boxes, moving plants back across rooms and freaking the hell out of the two cats. Tomorrow we're aiming to be out of here by 8am. After a quick coffee stop, we are on the road. And then we will drive and drive and drive and drive. You can think of us at any time of the day...and we will be driving.

Best Thing All Week

We got the parking spot right outside our building. RIGHT OUTSIDE. This means that tomorrow at 7am when we are hauling and packing and repacking and shuffling we will be in zero threat of some angry tenant wanting to put their car in the driveway we are blocking. When I start to get anxious about anything relating to transition (as I tend to do) I just think about that parking spot we nabbed at 8:15 this morning and I just smile.

And then the rains came

Everyone in San Francisco is talking about the weather. Not b/c they are pretending to be in some polite company but b/c tomorrow it is suppose to rain. No, not just rain, pour. No, not just pour but torrential down pour with flash flooding. And while I've heard people on the bus bandying about 6 inches, other sources say more like 3". Three inches. Of rain. In one day.

Sounds like the type of weather to stay the hell in doors and edit. So perhaps tomorrow I will get some work done...and also finish our Save the Dates. (The non-envelope part b/c ladies and gentlemen, I am suuuuper close :)

Sit Stay

I'm a forward back person. I think there are two types of people. Present Moment people and Forward/Back people. PMs live in the moment. They probably aren't good about keeping in touch. They make you feel like you are the most important thing in their lives when you are standing in front of them but probably show up late to everything and you may not hear from them for 5 months if you happen to live in different cities. FB people dwell on the past and worry about the future. They try and keep in touch (even if they aren't very good at it.) And well my version of it means that it's really hard for me to enjoy a place for very long b/c I'm thinking about the next place.

These are just crack pot theories but I totally believe them.

So we are half way through our stay in San Francisco. Today George a good friend from growing up is driving out from Reno to spend the weekend. (Awesome!) We will do some touristy things and eat burritos. It's hard, though, for me to not think about the things I want to do when we get back to Oregon. Finish Halloween cards. Design invitations. Write a web series. Begin a play (<---gulp).

I have to really force my mind to be here now. And I've known this about myself long enough that I can locate the source of my anxiety and then (mostly) brain-whack it out of me. Rethink my plan and enjoy the city while I can.

Questions for the Day

I'm going to go wander around SanFran while Zach works. I'm working on these questions in my mind:

1. What are the physical traits and personal histories of three of the five women I'll be playing starting in October rehearsals.
Amy- heart surgeon and researcher
Abby- something in finances
Stephanie- Was an architect but now a stay at home Mom.

I have preliminary physical descriptions for two of them. It's the first part of a rough draft. Thank you Richard Avedon exhibit and bus ride home. You were tremendously helpful.

2. What would I wear if I wasn't worried about body size and/or money?

3. General thoughts about a character I'm trying to flesh out for some writing. All I know is her ex husband is named Aaron. Her ex's best friend is named Brian. I still don't have her name or her best friend's name...nor the main character's traits.

Today is like shopping around for personalities in the crowds. I don't get this chance in Corvallis b/c there aren't crowds. What a cool opportunity here in SanFran.

Have a good day ya'll!

Jane Lynch

I love Jane Lynch. She has a great interview on Sound of Young America. You can stream it from the page. It's like 23 minutes long. Love her!

Gabby

Talking Walls

It's strange to step into another person's sanctuary and see how they live. See what a space says about them. I have no desire to snoop, but the pictures on the walls tell story enough. My cousin travels. She has seen the world and recorded her moments in it. A sunset off of an ocean, children carrying baby monkeys and waterfalls. She has a bookshelf nook with statues from what I imagine are the cook islands. They must go with the memory box containing currency, stamps and a palm tree post card from the same place. And then there are the pictures of family. On every surface there is a picture frame or a photograph tucked behind ribbon. Our grandparents, her and her now husband, and everywhere, her mother, who died suddenly, so unexpectedly a few years back. A mother who's absence was felt deeply last weekend when her only daughter was married.

Hello from San Fran (again)

So Zach and I made it. I actually made a Facebook comment, which felt a teeny tiny bit strange. We're currently freaking my cousin's cats out by rearranging rooms and pitching wobbly tables for our computers. I'm not going to worry about the neighbors. (I'm NOT going to worry about the neighbors I'm NOT going to worry about the neighbors.)

*sigh*

No it'll be both fine and great. I'm really determined to make this work. And by "this" I mean working remotely. I'm determined to make that work. Hell, I may get more done here than I do at home, which, well, at this point with the drama in the office the last few days isn't saying much.

Really?

I recently discovered that I have little to no eyelashes on the under eye. I always knew that mascara looked funny down there but thought nothing more of it. Mostly, it just means I get bugs in my eyes all the time while riding a bike. B/c you know what keeps bugs out of your eyes? Under eyelashes.

So imagine my joy when I discovered there is a prescription medication for people like me. And even better, has Brooke Shields (long time sufferer of short lashes?) as their spokesperson. "Latisse- the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough eyelashes, growing them longer, fuller and darker."

Well thank you Brooke Shields and the people of Latisse. I never knew it was something that I should change about myself. I'll add it to the list.