Wake me when it's in the yard.

I stick true to my grandma’s philosophy on storms. We live in Tornado Alley for Christ’s sake. If we went to the basement every time there was a storm warning we’d never leave! Everyone would be freaking out about the tornados and the wind and the hail and Grandma would just go to bed. “Wake me when it’s in the yard.” Sounds good to me.
So, after hanging at Subway, eating icecream with some of the family we finally decided to just drive back through the storm warnings and the hail and the rain. Oldest sister followed me - M has school tomorrow and I have to work so staying there wasn’t an option.
And I don’t listen to the radio so for all I know we could have been driving straight into storm central. It could have been like a “That 70’s Show” moment. Have you seen the one where Eric has to go pick up Donna at the radio station and he puts in a cassette tape while he’s driving? Meanwhile, you can see the tornado in the background like tearing up houses and stuff. He’s just totally dancing and singing the whole time. Then when he gets there Donna makes a big deal out of him coming to get her and driving through it and he totally freaks out because he’s scared of tornados.

What a day, seriously. Worked 9-1 - staff meeting, backroom, backroom, public service. Got yelled at by an Aide, nicknamed by a supervisor - “big brother” and I are now the “Gruesome Twosome”. I told you we ask a lot of questions, she probably wants to run and hide when we come downstairs, then basically took off as soon as I could to head out for practice.
Practice was good, they were into it, I could hear them, they sang the right words, only needed to be cued a few times. We were like, they’re gonna pull this off! Like shocked. Sent them home and came back for supper in the basement. Lots of parents and family came so that was cool. Then upstairs to the classroom where we hung out, talked things over with them and all that, walked down to the stage together. Start like right away. I’m barely in the door when the first song starts. Song goes great, I’m thinking, alright this is going to work.
After the song…okay, imagine 14 kids wanting to be anywhere else. Now put them all together on a stage, staring off into space, whispering back and forth, arms crossed, messing with their clothes, it was like - people could have slept through it. Seriously. But, there were only a few times they needed to be cued so they were paying attention. Somewhat. I don’t know if it was nerves because of the audience or if they were just tired of it but I could not get any eye contact. Usually, I do motions and dance in the back and distract them so that they’re looking up and smiling and stuff - no, no one would look at me. It was crazy.
But it’s done, and I waved and it’s done. Back to having free time. HA! More time for homework maybe.

Speaking of, duuude. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that you’re so into that when you turn it off or put it down you have to re-adjust to life as you were living it before the experience? This is one of those books. A book that makes me ignore the music that’s blaring in my headphones so I don’t even hear it because I’m so focused on what happens next. So it doesn’t matter that the play could have gone better. Much better. Because now I get to finish the book. Damn you Library Goddess. You and your good taste in literature. I’m toast for this class. I’m not going to have any time to do anything else but read Young Adult novels. But this one…makes that totally worth it. I’ll give you a Scale of Awesome when I’m done with it. 100 pages left, actually less than that, I could barely put it down before the play. I was late to the beginning of the potluck - which is fine because it’s a potluck so you come and go - because I couldn’t put it down.

Currently, I just feel like an emotional wreck. Completely exhausted. Work was awesome - til I got yelled at - but after that it was good again, the practice was good I was excited for that, then I went home and read so I was totally zombie mode for that zoning out everything but the book, then I started to get a headache at supper, but I got to see my mentor and hang out with some friends so I ignored it, the play was just an experience - something to scrapbook let’s go with that - I totally started crying during one of the songs not because it was good or bad just because of the melody and the lyrics which makes me a cheese ball but it didn’t matter, because no one was looking up at me anyway! HA! After the play was the awards, Nic is always good with that kind of stuff, then they started taking down the set decorations, we headed to get ice cream, I almost puked in the bathroom - when I have a headache for a long time I get nauseous. Ask Oldest sister, she’s got a fun experience involving me in a mall parking lot after seeing “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” with its shaking camera and my going in with a headache. And I love that movie! “Baby, you couldn’t find the button with both hands and a map” but now when I see it all I can think of is a bucket and a parking lot. After the ice cream it was the drama of sitting around waiting for the storms to move on. Which they didn’t so we drove through them. Then I was debating which was worse for my car - driving through the hail and the pressure of it against a moving car, or for it to be in a parking lot like a sitting duck with no where to hide. Which do you think would do more damage? I guess I’ll see what it looks like tomorrow. Then, driving back with Oldest Sister was amusing because for some reason, even though she’s older and has 4 wheel drive, I was the leader, or maybe those are the reasons why she wanted to follow me - who knows - so we were like waving when we got into town and I was going to turn so we were in the lane next to each other and then this other car was between us - pretty sure we weirded them out. But whatever. Now I’m finally back at my apartment, writing this, will post it, then read my book until I fall asleep like last night - I woke up with my book and my big fat cat in my lap. And like, he’s a big cat. So I don’t know how I didn’t wake up when he jumped on me, but I was out. Like out.

Now this is really long so post, then read, then sleep, then work, then finalize homework then get ready for class. Huzzah!

Song for the night - because it’s the same song, well kind of.

“Smells like Teen Spirit” - Nirvana

Here we are now, Entertain us.
Ah, the mosh pit. There were plenty of you at Warped. “She tried to crowd surf and the tide went out.”

Or the Moulin Rouge version

Outside it may be raining, but in here it’s entertaining!

"I left it on a cruise ship."

I've heard a lot of - well, I left the book on the plane, or the bus, or the train, or at a friend's house, but I'd never heard "I left it on a cruise ship" until this morning. That was new. And kind of funny. It helped drown out the "Not checked out" status that kept flashing on my screen.
-Not checked out
-I'm aware, this is delivery
-Not checked out
-Yes, you're coming from a different branch and were checked in there
-Not checked out
-Yeah, I know, moving on
-Not checked out
-Make it stop!

I'm posting early because I finally got my book and as soon as I'm done with this and eat something I plan on reading it until I fall asleep.

Today's highlights aside from delivery and the cruise ship - Had an interesting conversation with the guard. And as fun as pressing charges and waiting for everything to go through the system sounds, I've decided to just drop it and move on. It's not like that stuff was essential to my existence anyway. The experience was something to scrapbook and let's leave it at that. So, for those of you on some sort of crusade for me to date again - yes there are multiples of you - drop it. I'm done for now. 17 exes is enough for me. There are more but they didn't last longer than a week. It took me 17 years and 13 exes to figure out why they don't stick. The person I want to be with doesn't want to be with me. There's no one to compare to them and there's no one to replace them. I'll let you know when that changes.

The play is tomorrow. That's another thing I have to do tonight - text Nic and ask about practice today. I'm scared for her answer. I mean, I'm sure it will be fine. We have microphones so even if they mumble we will be able to hear something. It might just be their mumbling, but whatever. It's something. And it's not a big of a deal as it usually is since it's in with awards night and all that. I'm not going to freak out over it like I usually do. Just wave.

Songs for the night:

"Gives You Hell" - Glee version of All American Rejects

gotta love it - and first season because Matt's still there, i have yet to watch yesterday's episode. that'll be on my lineup of things to do this weekend after class

"Lot of Leavin' Left to Do" Dierks Bentley

i'm sensing a theme. catchy tune, awesome lyrics.

Tomorrow is work then the play, Friday is work then finalize homework, Saturday is class then going to see my friend's band play! woohoo! and after that is fluff.

Baby, the World Spins Madly On

The world has righted itself. Well, most of it. Life is good again, I think. I mean, I only had to "wave" once today, so hopefully the rest of the posts this week won't be as sad and depressing as those of the last couple of days.
Work today was good, I actually accomplished things between shifts aka paid bills, ordered boots for wedding - yes cowboy boots going to be a fun one - registered for a class in the fall, emailed my grad prof who was apparently looking for me yesterday, and wrote! Which was shocking. I've had this idea in my head for a while, not a Sketch and Edit, but a story I've been working on off and on since Fiction Writing senior year of college. And even though I really don't have time for it - which is when inspiration usually strikes - I wrote it anyway.

I still have yet to get ahold of book #2 which I need to read by at least Friday. I think it should be here tomorrow - I'm keeping track of it postage-wise - and if it's not I'm going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow afternoon. I only work 'til 4 so I can pick it up and read it all tomorrow night.

Thursday is the play - there will be plenty of "waving" for that. They had a trackmeet today so no school which means no practice which means tomorrow is going to have to be hardcore. And hardcore as it will be I won't be present since I'm working. I'm feeling more of like a consultant than a director. Which sucks. Cause I liked directing the thing with Nic. But Nic deserves all the credit, as usual, because she's a fantastic teacher, and I'm excited for Thursday. It's at like 5 - or the thing starts at 5 - it also includes awards night and food. It's sad cause usually Amber Squared aka BFF and Schwartz - even though she's married now and isn't actually Schwartz anymore she will forever be called Schwartz - come and watch but this year they won't make it.
I usually bring them candy so I'll have to pick something up tomorrow afternoon or on the way there Thursday. I'm headed out right after work then we'll have a final practice and send them home.


Michael Bublé and Sharon Jones - "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)"

gotta love it. although i think he should actually sing into the microphone instead of just dancing with the stand - that's a little awkward.

The Weepies - "World Spins Madly On"

Another great indie group, similar style as She & Him and Rilo Kiley
and a cool video as well


Alright, out for the night. Have a good one.

Just wave.

Oldest sister has this story that's kind of turned out to be a great life analogy. Basically, back when she was in high school, she was told not to ride on this guy's motorcycle and then of course she did it anyway. And, while riding in town, she passes our parents. Knowing she's already in trouble she just waves. It's a good life motto - along with "that's something to scrapbook". Life is crap. Or so I was told today. So the least you can do, when times are bad and you know you're in trouble, is wave. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of waving this week.

Play practice today was interesting. The performance is Thursday but there were no jitters. Actually, there was no interest at all. They wouldn't stand still, they were talking when other people were saying their lines, they didn't speak out - I was in the third row and I couldn't even hear them. I'm beginning to be glad this is only going to last 25 minutes instead of the usual 45. So, we're not doing commercials anymore and the kids gave up on their rap-off at the end. It's a whole mess. But, with all the bad timing - got the script late, during sports seasons, almost end of year and they just want to be done with school - what else should I expect? But whatever. I'll wave for that too.
And I guess there was good with the bad. They're all out of their books - except one and that's allowed because she's the reporter and can read from the script - and the songs are better than the weird versions in the script now that Nic has fixed them. I applaud her patience with kids. I only come in like once a week - well, now like once every two - but she has them every day. Yikes. See, this is why I dropped out of the Ed program. Kids...not my strong point. Good thing I direct a camp, huh?
Anyway, my camp director partner and I - because he's involved in like everything - hooked up some mics and stuck them around the stage so we should be able to hear the kids through at least the third row.

And, we got to talk about the joy that is camp, and the preparation process that goes along with and hasn't started yet even though it should have. I have people asking about information already, usually we wait to send forms out until school is out for the summer but that is coming a lot more quickly than I'd like it. So, I get the joy of coming up with new forms, sending them out, sending everything new to our website guy and hoping he has time to update it, plus do grad school stuff and work both jobs. This is going to be a fun couple of months.
After original application forms are out we work up a mock schedule and I start a spreadsheet of the campers as their applications come back. Then we have our meeting where we decide the specifics about the schedule. Then my director partner and me - and my high school friend if she still wants to help out, not sure as I haven't talked to her in a while - assign kids to counselors and counselors to cabins, finalize the schedule on an official form we give the kids, plan a packing list and send it out to all the campers along with information for the parents. After all that joy is printing out nametags for all the lanyards - and cleaning all the lanyards before we put the new ones in which is just gross - and then we're about halfway done. Haha.
Then it's songbooks with Liz - my mentor for all things music and camp - and I get the pleasure of writing and assigning skits for grades 3-8th. Oh, and assigning teen helpers to cabins and other stations. The teen helpers are always an interesting bunch. Either they're super excited to be there so we put them in cabins or they just want to get away from their parents in which case we put them at a station we think they'll be good at. I cheat because I get first pick for skits and worship with me and Liz. We get the best ones - aka play guitar and put up with our antics.
So, all that, while worrying about budgeting, volunteers, oh and this year we're going to have to find new lifeguards as ours might not make it. They're lifers like me, but all good things must come to an end.
Like I said, fun couple of months. There will be a multitude of waving.

Songs for the day:

White and Nerdy - Weird Al

So yes, I am a fan. And yes, I do sing this at work.
...
Sorry...Victoria....I can't pimp this video enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkrbXvo5fVQ
Mike and Molly - Victoria steals every scene!

"Misery Business" Paramore

No she's not the brunette, hold out til the end. I was super confused. Think I'm still super confused.

But other than sleeping in - huzzah! - watching NCIS and Body of Proof, going to play practice, hanging with my family, then driving back here to my big fat cat there wasn't a lot going on today. Oh, I finished my book. Eh. I mean, it was good. But when I was done all I could think of was, "Well, that was super depressing." and "Why would you leave her journal there?" Tomorrow I have to find Book #2 and fast as I'm not sure how many pages it has. Gotta read it and write some sort of analysis question about the both of them.

Alright, out for the night. Hope you have a good week!

This Magnet Moment...

Magnet Magnet Magnet...terrible. I am a freaking magnet. And I didn't even do anything this time! I was sitting at my desk and he comes up and starts hitting on me. I wasn't even in public service! I was at the lab! Answering the phone every two minutes!
Okay, so Grandma (25-yr-old-coworker, I really need to think of another nickname that doesn't take quite that explanation) calls me a magnet. Because I attract all types of weirdos and they like latch on or something. Apparently I'm "too nice to the weird boys." That's what she says every time I tell her about a new magnet moment. Which is what I call them. Unfortunately, it's a conversation I've been having a lot lately. Anyway, these "magnet moments" range all the way from being hit on and/or stalked by teenage boys to old women. Although my favorite was this guy around my age - I was helping him find sheet music cause the music goddess was already gone and he slipped me this piece of paper with his name (illegible btw) and a note at the bottom saying "likes ass or jazz". Yeah, that was something to scrapbook. It cracked myself, Grandma (25...), and my favorite college professor up majorly. Actually that was my second choice for the name of this blog, haha. But then people would have thought that it was me saying that, therefore My Life in Closed Captions won.
Today's Magnet Moment was interesting. He asked me out, I said I don't date patrons - learned that the hard way, then he tried to find a loophole saying something about how he would ask me out at the other branch or something. But he would still be a patron there so I'm confused. Whatever. But that's going to be awkward, since he goes to both branches. I'm toast. And I'm tired of being toast.
Think I'm just going to start being mean to anyone that looks at me twice. No, couldn't do that. I'd get in trouble. I'll just run instead. That works. And it helps when your "big brother" is around to save you. Haha, another fun coworker who has had unfortunate experiences with patrons as well.
It was funny, I described the guy to him earlier, then someone looking like the guy came to the desk to ask a question about parking meters and big brother comes from out of nowhere saying, "it's time to the count the money, let's go." Wrong guy, but still appreciated. Good to know I've got people who have my back. And Grandma (25... yeah that's getting old it's time for a new nickname)...where was I... oh yeah Grandma (...) says she'll play girlfriend, but I won't see her again 'til like Thursday or something since I'm at the other branch until then. And I'm sure he'll show up at that branch. Hooray...Not. Toast. Freaking magnetic qualities.

What else...oh yeah, tonight I'm going bowling...yes, bowling. I suck, but it's still fun. Usually I only go once a year when we take the kids at teen camp. We have our usual group with our usual nicknames - Boomer, Obi-Wan, Chickenfro, Maynard, this year Scuba Steve joined us as well. I'll let you guess which one of those is mine. Anyway, tonight I'm going with Boomer (there, eliminated an option for you) and Nic, plus I think Tyler will be there as well. We grew up together, same grade school and both went away to same high school so it's always fun to see him. His two little brothers have to put up with me still since I direct the play. Speaking of, I'll get to talk to Nic about that tonight, I gotta remember to ask about the rap and commercial.

Anyway, songs for tonight:
"Something's Got a Hold on Me" Christina Aguilera from Burlesque

Figured the title fit the whole magnet theme. Love the whole 50s/60s style.


"You Drive Me Crazy" Shakin' Stevens

This is at least the third time I've posted this, yes I'm aware. But it's one of my favorites. And it also fits the theme. Well, the title does. Pretty sure these people weren't sent down to give me a thrill. Someone else a thrill perhaps.

Alright, food then bowling. Have a good one.

oh the joy...

My last day off in a very long time....I spent it sleeping in, having play practice with the kids, then watching Country Strong with Grandma (25-yr-old-coworker).

Sleeping in in an apartment with no curtains to block out the sun is harder than it sounds. I mean, I have blinds, but that doesn't do much. So, yeah, gonna have to go curtain shopping sometime soon cause it's driving me bananas. Then got to drive out to play practice with Carter and came up with yet another list of musical artists he does not enjoy similar to those listed here My Life in Closed Captions: And you're the only one...who...MEOW! and here My Life in Closed Captions: Happy Christmas Eve Eve!
This time it was the Christmas song by the Chipmunks - he might have been right about that one, how long is too long for xmas music to stay on your ipod?
Also "I hear you knocking" by Wynonna which I totally jam out to, I don't know what his problem is.
He did, however, enjoy the "Elephant Love Medley" from Moulin Rouge. Maybe he agrees everyone should have someone to scream at inside an elephant.

Play practice flew by pretty quickly. We finally went through all the songs. Some of them are just plain weird so I think we're going to be doing a lot of cut and pasting. Also, since I'm going to be working a lot this week the next time I can go out to practice with them isn't until the 9th and the play is the 12th! But I'm sure Nic can handle this. She's playing the music anyway so she can decide what to keep and what to pitch. Plus they know most their lines, it's just what order they go in and who they come after that they're having troubles with.

Country Strong gets a 7/10 on my Scale of Awesome, purely for the acting. Gwyneth and the rest pf the cast were amazing. The storyline, however, was completely depressing and I'd be okay with not watching it again. The soundtrack is pretty good though, I got a few of the songs off itunes, but yeah. Totally depressing, it got to the point where Grandma (25-yr-old-coworker) and myself were yelling at the tv.

Glee, gotta love it. "Barbra Streisand" from this week's episode.

I don't think I've laughed this hard in a very long time.
I especially like Puck at 1:29 and 2:36. It's just a fantastic song, and I'm glad it's got the tmobile commercial feel again. Same setting as when they did the Safety Dance as well.

Anyway, tomorrow is inservice so I'm going to bed the minute I post this since it's an early morning and a long day. Hope you have a good one.

bugs on steroids!

That's what a friend of mine said when she first moved here. We were driving and her windshield was covered in june bug juice. haha. But there were freaking bugs everywhere at work this morning. Spiders and crickets and some weird looking green thing. Just gross.

So, Jarvis decided to go rogue again. The unlock button on my key stopped working so I had to use the actual key. Which is fine. Except that it set the car alarm off. Crimeony. I'll have to figure out where the spare key is cause tomorrow I'm at both libraries and an alarm blaring might make things awkward. Especially when there's a security guard that would totally make fun of you for it.

But play practice was awesome! I was shocked! I mean, usually it's awesome because I love the kids and we have a lot of fun but this year they're just not as pumped as usual. Anyway, today they knew most of their lines and they were actually singing the songs. I'm going back out Thursday afternoon and hopefully we'll be completely out of the books and all that. Bop and my oldest girl are writing their own commercial so that's exciting. The King and Shad started working on their rap this afternoon. So if both of those things get finalized and we start work on them by the end of this week we might actually be ready! Shocker! 16 days. Holy toast. I'm just glad I don't have to learn the lines. I do however have to write a song with Nic. Which of course we haven't started yet. Last year we wrote it just a few days before performance so we're right on track now. We still need to pick a topic as well. I'll have to brainstorm on that this week. What about, what it takes to direct a grade school play? hmm...

Another fun thing that's kind of still going on - we're having a bit of a battle on facebook! My cousins and myself that is. My sister mentioned something about not being cool enough for her daughter to want to be "matchers" with - which is more of a long story - but my male cousin stood up for her, saying our family is awesome but then something along the lines of the male members of the family being better. To which he was bombarded by comments by myself, my sister, my second sister, and two of my cousins. I cool aunt quoted him as well. Because she's right and this just proves true. "*insert last name* women show up!" Which is true! Weddings, family reunions, etc. We're always there. Us women are awesome. And it is totally on like donkey kong. Seriously.

Quote of the day:
"Another four weeks, which he said four weeks ago." Dad about his healing process. He's ready to be done with all that medical junk but the doctors keep pushing it back.

"No Air" Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown

I enjoy watching him put on his jacket in slow motion. And okay, gotta say,
Red hoodie = awesome.
Giant blue scarf that's really awkward and unnecessary indoors = dumb.
It's like the updated version of Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman yelling at each other in a giant elephant, I'm loving it!

I got Spocked.

He "live long and prosper"-d me then walked out.

I keep these notes in my cellphone and date each one. I was reading them on my break, last year on this day it was, "Her life is what great tragic novels are made of." I wish I could remember who I was talking about. Yesterday's was "Well, that's something to scrapbook." Which can work in really any situation, bad or good. Although it would probably seem more amusing in a bad one. Last year yesterday's was from a lit class in college. "I hear something." "It's my heart beating." I was kind of an English nerd and was friends with fellow English nerds. We had a lot of fun with literature.

It was brought to my attention this weekend that mis-matched socks are now fashionable. Which sucks. Because that means I have to find matching socks. I've never been into the whole fashion thing. I grew up wearing tear-aways and a backwards Titans hat. Which suspiciously went missing by the way... I suspect foul play *cough*Mom*cough* but have yet to prove it.

Alright, song for tonight is an old favorite. I mean, it's not too old...actually it's been like 10 years. So, recently old. Yes, recently old. I'm going with that.
Uncle Kracker's "Follow Me"

Used to sing this song with my softball teammates between games. Fun times.

Tomorrow is split shift and play practice. BTW - it was a good thing I left my phone on last night since I did get a call this morning from work. Anyway, play practice is going to have to be some sort of hardcore tomorrow. Going over all the songs - no skipping - saying lines with their faces out of the book. They'll be mad about both those things but I'm starting a countdown. May 12th. 17 Days. We're soooooo not ready.


Okay, I'm gonna crash. Well, make supper and then crash. Long day tomorrow.
Have a good one.

It's just a jump to the left...

And a step to the riiiiiiiiight.

Split shift + play practice + listening to Carrie Fisher's autobiography = a full day.

Quotes of the day:
-"I just have basically too much personality for one person but not enough for two."
"Wishful Drinking" is the title of her autobiography, it's fantastic. I listened to the audio version which she reads and I totally recommend.
-"Ultimately, who's gonna give a medal to someone with a big stupid red dot in their eye? I don't care how much force is with him."
Her on Mark Hamill's bursted blood vessel in the final scene of SW4.


Play practice was kind of a mess. We have a new girl which means Hooray! I don't have to learn lines anymore! But I still have to write a song and work on that commercial. Or maybe they'll want to write their own commercial. That might be fun for them. But we are super late with everything. We don't have blocking, they're still in their books, we're still skipping half the songs and yeah, we have less than a month until performance. May 12th. So that's what like 3 weeks and change. Yikes.

Carrie Fisher roasts George Lucas

She includes parts of this in her autobiography. It was funny cause I was kind of quoting it along with her - yes I posted this during favorites week get over it. It's fantastic.

Now I'm starving. Don't think I've eaten anything today so I should probably work on that before I konk out. Early day tomorrow with training and all that.

"Because there was no underwear in space!"

Maybe, completely, wrapped up in you.

Garth Brooks, stuck in my head. I'd post the link but he doesn't have anything on youtube.

Tuesday means work in the morning, play practice in the afternoon, back to work at night and now "Body of Proof". Awesomeness.
"Your daughter's not like you."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Amusing."

Anybody else a fan? I'm loving Dana Delaney, there's similarities to her character on Castle. She guest starred as an FBI agent in the second season.
"Castle, what part of un-ass don't you understand?"
"All of it."
Awesome episode.

BTW - that whole natural cut fries thing being the best is crap. They're nasty.

Early morning at work tomorrow so I should probably konk out sometime soon. As lame as that sounds. It's more training for the new system. I'm curious as to how it works from our side - the first session we just went over what it looks like for patrons.

"How" Maroon 5

A song that goes on repeat on my ipod frequently.

Okay, like I said. Totally lame but I'm out. Have a good one.

"Don't patronize me with lies, I'm a man be a woman now."

Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.

Okay so that whole cleaning thing went out the window. I did take a nap. Which was nice...for a whole like half an hour. You can only sleep so long at the farmhouse since it's freakin' grand central station. Phone call after phone call and the ringers are loud.
Play practice was excellent, kids are getting pretty into it. The only problem that now kids are out sick and the oldest is still out because of the surgery. So we're going to play a lot of catch-up with not a lot of time. May 12th is the date. One month from tomorrow. And we're still in the classroom which is not a good sign. Maybe we'll be down on the stage by the end of the week. We're gonna have to soon to start working on blocking. Thankfully this year's play came with a choreography DVD that I still have yet to watch, woops. But I don't have to come up with it this year, hooray!
Keeping it short tonight, kinda tired for no real reason other than it's a Monday. Castle was awesome though! Yay for the ending!

"Let's Dance" David Bowie

Classic song. Although, not the video I was expecting. "Under the moonlight, the serious moonlight..."

Moulin Rouge...Just because I can.

Because everyone should have someone to scream at in a giant elephant.
Pure awesomeness, minus the offkey moment at 0:29. But it's cool, she fixes it on the soundtrack.

Tomorrow means split shift, hooray! So I can run some errands, clean apartment, attempt to nap. We'll see.

"How wonderful life is now you're in the world."

We can dress real neat from our hats to our feet and surprise them with a victory cry!

Today flew, and in a good way. Sort of. And I only got yelled at once so that's a bonus. Tomorrow means sleeping in (hooray!), play practice, then probably helping Mom clean the yard. Although it looks like she's already gotten a big start. So I guess that depends on what's left.
Maybe I'll clean the house instead. Or my closets. Since they still have stuff in them. Lots and lots of crap that's just shoved onto shelves. Yeah, it's one of those. Like a Monica's secret closet that no one notices until they try to open the door and it's locked kind of closet. Then they open it and stuff just falls out all over the place. Monica's secret shame. Although mine isn't really a secret. Or a shame. But the doors close so it's okay. And, to be fair, since I've moved out, a lot of the stuff in the closet is actually not mine. I know! I came home and there's a bunch of other peoples' clothes just like hanging in it! I guess I should be happy they didn't turn my room into a gym. That's a second Friends reference for those of you counting.

I'm trying to think of commercial ideas for the play. Since it's a Survivor show - well, Survivor Babylon - we're writing our own commercials. One is going to be for our band which means we'll have to write another song, and the second needs to involve two of the older kids that don't have as many lines. They're both pretty good so I'm not worried, it's the writing part that is screwing me over. I'm thinking something about flame retardant material. Since it's about a fiery furnace and all the commercials should fit with the theme. So like spray or brooms or something, I don't know I'm stuck. I go through sporadic clever spells. This isn't one of them. That happens with camp too. Which reminds me I need to start working on those application forms because they need to be sent out soon. Oh well, maybe I'll think of something during practice tomorrow.

Okay, I'll stop with the rambling. Have fun with some Glee.
It's the Safety Dance! Artie's dream sequence.

I'm tempted to start one of these at work. But I'm guessing my musical-hating colleague might not appreciate it. We'll see.

"The night is young and so am I."

I can be brown, I can be blue, I can be violet sky......

Play practice was much better. The boys have decided that they're going to do a rap-off at the end, since the king in the play is the king of rap, and now they're actually excited about the musical as a whole. So practice was fun. We're letting them write their own lyrics for their rap off, then we'll of course have to clear them, but they're stoked. Awesome.

Went to my high school's musical tonight, was cool to hit up the old stomping grounds. I realized that I'm just slowly moving down the interstate, it's actually kind of funny. High school, then 20 miles down the road was college, now 30 miles down the road is work, then another 50 or so miles down the road is grad school. I'm wondering what happens next cause I really don't want to end up in Iowa. Not that there's anything wrong with Iowa, I just prefer it here.
Anyway, the musical was awesome, they did Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. I was quite proud since a lot of my camp kids were in it. Although it made me feel really old cause some of those kids were like kid kids when I was doing those musicals. Like, I was acting with their siblings and now they're all like grown and tall and wow. I'm old.
And I got to sit by with my high school teacher, who pretty much got me through high school, so it was cool to catch up. And I drug my co-director with me even though she saw it Thursday and we talked strategy for set design and commercials for our own musical.

Quotes of the week
- What's that Abbers?
- Juice and nanas...
my niece is super cute, we were reading books this afternoon then she had to have her snack.

-Give him a pamphlet and tell him to find Jesus.
a friends mom's advice for making stalkers go away

- My orca is gonna attack your porpoise!
i really feel like leaving this one unexplained but i won't. Girlscout was admiring our squirtguns for summer reading, they are animal shaped.

What else happened this week, oh! movies!
Salt - Angelina Jolie was pretty badass, I'm gonna give it a 7/10 on the Scale of Awesome. She had me fooled, I was actually really confused who's side she was on, so I had to watch it all the way through. As much as I'm for Team Aniston, Jolie is still pretty much awesome, mostly in this and Tomb Raider. Oh and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

The Fighter - awesome storyline, awesome acting, earned every award and nomination it received. 8/10.

Weeds season one - pretty funny so far. Not sure if I'm gonna stick with it through all the seasons, I guess that depends on how this one ends. But it's funny. There's a lot of bust-out-laughing moments. Mary Louise Parker, who I didn't know much about before but loved her in RED (that made the top 5, check the favorites week post here My Life in Closed Captions: This is a week of my favorite things Day Two: Movi...) is hysterical as the widower who goes broke so in order to support her family she starts selling weed in the suburbs. Hilarious.

Next on my list is The Tourist more Angelina Jolie, also currently checked out to me but I haven't watched it yet. And, Nurse Jackie season one, plus today I just got Morning Glory. Hope to get to watch those or part of those at some point this weekend. Maybe tomorrow, since I'm only halfday.


And now, "Grace Kelly" by Mika

got my camp friends hooked now i'll share it with you.


Humphrey, we're leaving.

We'll scream loud at the top of our lungs, and they'll think it's just cause we're young...

Hooray for our first play practice! So, lots of work still to do. Mostly work with the music since there's more of that than there is dialogue. I'm just hoping Friday goes better than today. We were missing a couple kids and then got the usual reaction about drama from one kid and then the younger ones were...um okay see, Mom is always saying that I'm supposed to have kids but I have plenty already. Between this and camp I'm all kid-ed out.

On a high note, "the Teacher and the Failed Librarian" is planning on making a return appearance, this time as "the Teacher and the Part-Time Librarian" (the band was originated before I was in the library system). Last year we promoted our fake album by performing a song entitled "Snippets of Conversation" which was written at the Home and Garden Show - long story - we're gonna write another one for this year and since I played guitar last year she gets to play piano this year. We're still debating what the song will be about but we do have a month. We wrote the other one in a few hours about a day before the performance. I'd write out the lyrics but strangely I'm exhausted and tomorrow is going to seem super long and super weird since it's backwards, library-wise.


"The Great Escape" Boys like Girls

Just like jam and bread or maybe birds of a feather...

Time: 10:30ish
Location: Couch
Attitude: Tired

Tired. But good tired. Life is kind of all over the place lately so had to take a break and relax - hung out with my awesome friend and went to see the "Lincoln Lawyer". It was actually pretty good, I'd give it a 7/10 on my Scale of Awesome. Matthew McConaughey, Josh Lucas, Ryan Phillippe, Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy - I was surprised by him in that role I didn't think it would fit but it was good. Interesting plots twists, I liked it. I've always though that Josh Lucas and Matthew McConaughey were actually really similar because of the roles that they usually play - You know the dumb guys that women run away from and then come back to, and then the inspiring coaches, plus they look similar so it was funny to see them both together in a courtroom.
Oh, and forgot from before, Sunday also went to see "I Am Number Four" you know, just meaning to eat milk duds and make commentary but it was actually really good. I might even cave and read the book, just cause I want to know what happens in the rest of the series. I'm gonna give it a 9/10 on the S.O.A. Quinn as Sarah was kinda funny. But she pulled it off, I didn't see her as the cheerleader she is on Glee. or former cheerleader of whatever.

Another fun thing coming up - SCHOOL MUSICAL! got the script sunday, casted it today, going out for our first practice tomorrow. Don't have a lot of time this year, we're doing it in early May so it's gonna be a lot to learn in a short amount of time. Plus we don't have a regular schedule this year, it was easy when I had the same classes every week so we knew when I'd be free to go out there. This year my work schedule's all over the place so we only know so far in advance and then if I'm free sometime they might not be. But we'll figure it out.

Did anyone else used to watch that show on Nickelodeon, "Figure it out" hosted by Summer Sanders? where the kids come and they've like invented something or accomplished something big or whatever and then there was a celebrity panel who had to guess what it was and if they didn't they'd get slimed? I just remember Amanda Bynes always asking if they had slapped themselves with liver.

Sorry, mind all over the place.


Quotes of the day:
-"Okay, maybe one point."
-"124, I'll take it!"
current work score - got to work with superwoman this morning. she said i did good but didn't give me any points cause apparently that would be too easy. but finally she gave in and gave me one when she was leaving this afternoon so i felt special.

-then there was an interesting story about a mouse which I won't share as it is not mine but was totally funny.


"Birds of a Feather" The Rosenbergs

Love this song. They don't have an official video but its the song that counts.


"Only You" by Josh Kelley

Yes that is Katherine Heigl and yes they are married now.

had nachos for supper at the theater. should probably eat something resembling real food before i konk out. it's not going to be a slow day tomorrow. work in the morning. then practice. okay driving to practice, then practice, then driving back from practice, then back to work for the night shift, then come home and crash. body of proof will be on, hooray!
but i love the musical. last year's wasn't a musical so i guess i can't call it that, we'll go with grade school play. not a lot of kids this year so i might have to learn lines of my own, that's still being decided.

Have a good one.

This is a week of my favorite things Day Five: Hobbies

Since I love my job and that's basically my life now I don't have a lot of time for hobbies, or as much time as I used to. Aside from the usual singing, dancing like an idiot, watching movies/tv, listening to music, hanging out with friends most of my hobbies somehow involve children - directing plays, directing a camp, directing skits and worship at that camp, that's my mid-year life. Should be interesting to balance with work. We'll see how that goes. We have a date for the play this year, we're doing Three Men in the Fiery Furnace - but it's under a different title that I can't remember - but we're grouping it with awards night, that way we have more time to work on it.
Aaannnd, since it's almost spring that means camp stuff is going to be starting up full swing soon, aka writing up the registration and release forms, sending them out, updating the website, then once they start coming in it's all about ordering t-shirts, assigning grades to cabins along with counselors, teen helpers, station leaders, putting together a schedule, watching the budget, writing/finding skits to match with the numbers in each grade. Printing nametags to put in the lanyards, updating the song books...I'm missing something, I'm sure. But yeah, there are spreadsheets galore on my computer, it's madness. But I love it. Because, again, I'm crazy. But just seeing how happy the kids are is totally worth it. Plus, youth camp means teen camp which is even more fun because it means I'm not constantly watching out for homesick 3rd graders. These are just teens that only want to swim, tube, or watch movies on the wall. "Delayed...Reaction" loves teen camp because it's when we're most inspired to write and perform music...Plus we eat things like pizza, steak, lasagne, icecream and all that. Take them bowling. Go tubing down the river, which we do at youth camp as well but that is madness. 40+ 5-8th graders tubing down a river does not bode well for the sane. I'm stoked! Can't you tell? No, I actually am stoked. I love it. Which is why I've been going to the camp since 2nd grade. That's like...crap headmath on the fly sucks, Library Goddess was right. Like 12 years of camp! Madness, no wonder I got promoted. I'm a lifer. So's Amos. And Steve. And Megan. We have fun.

Okay, enough rambling, list time.

So I guess favorite hobbies for me include:
5. Lazy things like watching movies/tv, listening to music, reading books - it's nice to have something that's quiet and laidback after working all day in public service.
4. Helping with the play at my old grade school - we have far too much fun during practice. more laughing than progress but it's worth it in the end.
3. Going to the Roller Derby!! I'm a nerd for Derby. LT. Slamher is my hero. No Coast Derby Girls all the way! Toni told me I was supposed to try out (aka manager) but Mom said if I made it into grad school I wasn't allowed to join as it would take up too much of my time. Boo. I could pull off a secret hidden life, right? Yeah, no, probably not.
2. Directing the kids summer camp - yes it basically takes over my life and all my spare time but I love it. I really do.
1. Writing - That's really my only "hobby hobby" of interest because it's the only thing I'm occasionally semi-good at. Or so people tell me, everything I write I think is crap. Maybe that's because I'm a perfectionist, about writing anyway, so if it turns out different than my plan I don't like it.
But I write some of the skits for camp if I can't find anything I like. This past year I wrote one on Rapuzel the early years aka before she was born and how the evil witch tricked her parents into giving her up. I gave it to the seventh grade girls. My niece played the demon radish - long story - but they loved it, she still has the script hanging on her door. I always give my favorite skits to the seventh graders just because they still think drama and acting is fun, whereas the eighth graders are like "this is lame. i want to go swimming." It's the skits that are written at 2AM the night before camp that I've learned go over the best, aka Rapuzel and then the year before that's "Killer Eggs" which is an even longer story and yet again for the seventh graders.
But major pressure for this year since I promised the seventh grade girls a continuation of Rapunzel after she was imprisoned. And now they'll be eighth graders. Crap.

Okay, back to writing. Since it's clearly my favorite hobby without any competition we'll just go with it.

Here's a short intro from one of my latest projects.

“Well they say she died easy of a broken heart disease, as I listen through the cemetery trees.” – One Headlight, The Wallflowers

I watch as Tom, her father, approaches the grave. His hands are clasped behind him as he walks in an adagio kind of pace. From far away one could easily assume he is at peace, but they would be missing the contorted look on his face that contradicts with the rest of his calm demeanor. He is trying to be strong for Amanda, Lindsay’s mother, who seems to be a zombie in complete denial of every emotion ever conceived.
As the service starts people make a circle around the grave and Father Mark. I stay by the tree line around the edge of the cemetery. My feet are stuck in place. I can’t seem to make it any closer than 40 feet away. The breeze picks up and I can hear the leaves rustling against each other. It is as if she is here pushing me toward the grave, begging me to say goodbye and receive some kind of closure in return. But I’m not going anywhere. This is as close as I can get. The wind makes it hard to hear Father Mark. I can only make out every couple words but I’m not really listening anyway. All I can think about is the last few days. A week ago you were healthy. A week ago you were happy. A week ago we were together. Now you’re dead… and it’s my fault.

Intrigued? Me too, now if only I could figure out where to go from there!! No, I have a couple pages after that but I'm already stuck. Jake is the main character, he is moving to Seattle for a job and asks Lindsay to go with him. Most of it is in flashback. I'm still debating how to kill her off and make it his fault. I have a couple of ideas but none of them good enough to give me inspiration to finish it. If you have any send them my way!

So, since I'm blocked on that one I'll stick to my guns and hit you with another Sketch and Edit. With them I'm never blocked, mostly because they're short and if I don't like it I can make them do someting else, like order takeout or go shopping for flowers or go to a bar or install a nav system or decorate a tree. The possibilities are endless. There are more of these throughout the blog if you feel like scrolling through. You don't have to read them in any particular order.

Since I've been spent most of my day in one Wednesday I'll give you this one.

Sketch and Edit Sit in the Waiting Room
E – “I hate waiting rooms. They always make me feel so nervous.”
S – “Remind me why I’m here again.”
E – “Every time I go to the dentist something always goes wrong.”
S – “And I’m here because…”
E – “I need the moral support. You should know I’m famous here for bad things happening. Didn’t you notice the hygienists laughing and giving me funny looks when I checked in?”
S – “I just figured that was a normal reaction for people around you. Why are you famous at your dentist’s office?”
E – “Just traumatic events… I kicked him once.”
S – “The dentist?”
E – “No, Janet Reno, yes the dentist!”
S – “What happened?”
E – “He told me all he needed to do was pull out one of my baby teeth and it wouldn’t take long but ended up cutting it into four pieces.”
S – “Ouch, but that’s not that bad.”
E – “And I passed out, it was embarrassing.”
S – “Lots of people pass out at their dentist’s.”
E – “Do they also freak out over having too much Novacaine, run to the lobby, smack their heads on the main desk, conk out cold and then wake up in their dentist’s arms?”
S – “All that here?”
E – “Yeah, last time I was here they asked if they should put a big red x in front of the desk. Apparently I made number three on their list of top five highlights in this office. I bet it’s down to number four now though since he got arrested this summer.”
S – “What?”
E – “Thought you might like that one."
S – “Your dentist is a felon?!”
E – “Say it again but louder, I don’t think the mailman heard you. And my orthodontist committed suicide a while ago too.”
S – “Are your teeth really that bad?” *Edit glares* “So, basically I’m here to…?”
E – “Keep me from getting violent and/or passing out in the lobby…or just generally embarrassing myself.”
S – “Sounds like a full-time job.”
Dentist – “We’re ready for you now.” *leaves*
S – “Was that the felon?”
E – “Yes.”
S – “Aw, no felons have the right to be that good looking…”
E – “Slow down there cowgirl. I’ll be back soon…hopefully.”
S – “Okay, I’ll just be here, building up my tolerance for heedless celebrity gossip. Look, it’s Brad and Jennifer!”
E – “I always was for Team Aniston. I bet if you dig deep enough in those piles you’ll find some about Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley…” *leaves, comes back twenty minutes later to find a red-marker-colored taped ‘x’ in front of the desk* “Oh, You’re dead.” *Sketch smiles and makes a run for it*


Based on a true story. I really am famous at my dentist's office. The main lady at the desk asked if they should put an x in front of the desk and one of the hygienist's heads went up and yelled "that was you?!"



Okay, I'm running out of ideas for favorite things. I have Music, Movies, TV, Books and now Hobbies. Tomorrow I'm thinking Youtube clips or websites or something to that effect. If you have any other suggestions send them my way.