blogs don’t suffer from neglect. they don’t.

peacefully moving along, living on the surface. there were the weeks of getting back into the swing of things, then the weeks of 12 hour day after day after day, then the weeks of settling down. and now the weeks of simple and enjoyable work. it’s not perfect, of course, but near enough.

meanwhile, there’s been some excitement. that’s what my mother always calls bad news. my nephew wound up in the hospital for a while. he is home again and fine, and i’m through processing all the scary what ifs. in the meantime, we went up to visit for a few hours. in that time we read new books (mr brown can moo, can you?) colored (triangle dogs, square dogs, round dogs, all with spots and stripes) and introduced his new toy. after a few tries he was able to say and remember nautilus. no, brother, it is not a snail, though that was a good try. i also introduced the concept of monster-walking, a big hit. towards the end of the night, he gave me a big kiss and said ‘i love you.’ what a charmer!

it was pleasant to live on the surface for a while, but having been shocked back under i’m thinking a lot again. of what, i couldn’t say, but the thinking mood is back. along with some free time to (read! knit! sleep!) be a bit more social again. and try a new gym, as sadly, the beloved yoga studio couldn’t make it in this quasi-recession. there’s a muscle in my right butt that is very displeased. then there’s the hopeful end to the blog and haiku lapse. and perhaps finally taking care of the parts of the garden that couldn’t withstand winter. and i’ve still been meaning to learn to make cassoulet. and to organize a stitch and bitch. and to go to the aquarium in baltimore. and to finally get a new laptop. and to try wearing contacts again. and to take long cold walks holding hands and snuggle up on the couch with blankets and tea and my feet tucked under his legs. you know, live.

lots to catch up on, but not now. now, just this: rollercoaster ride has begun. now the challenge is to balance all of the things in life i have been enjoying at leisure with the non-stop craziness that is my work schedule for the next month. the birds might get a little cranky with me. the laundry might not get done. the cold-hating herbs might live in the kitchen for a while before i get to harvesting. the new knitting projects, though, should get plenty of time. there are after all dinner breaks.

catch up
so we won the world series. very long final game, silly weather. it’s been a decade since i watched baseball regularly and was a fan of another team. long enough that i got a bit happy and proud to have my city earn a win. and then everyone went nuts. see, when folks are happy, they’re supposed to act happy. turning over cars, smashing gigantic (gorgeous) planters full of new plants, ripping up newspaper holders and throwing them through store windows DOES NOT EQUAL HAPPY. seriously people. NOT well done. then, halloween. immediately prefaced by the victory parade, and full of a bit more frantic and scary energy than the lovely halloween should be. having celebrated in a most satisfactory manner all things halloween the weekend before, i chose to hole up in my house and ignore everyone else on friday. then, of course, election day. yet another reason for people to spontaneously parade on broad street. it seems this time, though, no mini-riot. just lots of happy people acting happy.

look ahead
plans are a-planning in full force now for the new show. in a week my official prep starts, and shorty after that rehearsals. so many exciting things happening on top of the usual excitements–original music, paper animation on giant screens and FALSE GROSS TEETH! which is of course my favorite part so far. so pleased to be working on this project. also, i plan to go to the zoo this week. we’ll see how that turns out, as you may remember, there have been some serious zoo failures in the past. i also plan to finish the new filing system to cure a certain tiny closet from its own personal hell-paper-virus. heh. we’ll see how that turns out as well. also plan to figure out the technical difficulties (why do flikr and ravelry not get along?) and add tremendous amounts of information about what i have/am/will knit(ing) because why wouldn’t i do that? of course, i plan to also finish the three open knitting projects during the rehearsal lunch breaks. hah!

ignore the now
well, it’s been a crappy week or so, punctuated by some very lovely days. i am lately susceptible to being consumed by my own livingroom. much more pleasant occurrences if i bother to actually talk to other human beings. left to my own devices too much equals not good this time around. (and yes, i still do live with someone i very much like to talk to, but he’s been on a night shift work schedule for a bit, so my own devices have had plenty of time to work. seriously, how do people do this for entire lifetimes?)  really i’m not as codependant as i sound… it’s just a funk. which is why i am ignoring the now, obviously. except for tomorrow at yoga, where i will luxuriate in the now, that’s what yoga is for, sometimes.

[in bonus news, today a certain old friend became a dad, and certain relatives celebrated many happy years of marriage, and tomorrow someone might decide to adopt roscoe the awesome cat who loves to chew on long hair]

that’s right, 52 hours of work in 4 days, with little time to eat or pee. this show was… busy. and of course now that it’s over, i am attacked by germs! this has been a more germy year than i am used to. also, someone in my family has had a death in the family. for once the timing is such that i do not have to bargain, connive or scramble to achieve a day off and am free to simply be there for people who might need me to be there.

this job has taken a serious toll again, and i am facing unemployment again, yet i am steadfast in my choice. i still like what i do. germs, exhaustion, frustration and inconvenience be damned. (they are, by the way, all of them already damned. i simply wish them further damnation.)

well, tech week, and in this case, load in/tech/performance/strike week is here again. so i won’t do things like poke about on the laptop or sleep for a while. good thing i haven’t yet put any seeds in… i would water them, of course, but those extra few minutes will be needed in the upcoming long days.

i think the second wave has abated, though, no recent sitings.

also, have discovered a style of knitting/crocheting called freeform, which seems to involve lots of swirls and being able to work on one bit at a time. i heart this very much. hey–qp makes for sort of a heart shape. i’m such a dork.

so…

fantastic visit with the boston crew. my nephew is ridiculously happy and learning so very quickly. i think my highlight of the weekend was the nose game. in which one either points to or touches a nose, any nose. i also now have my very own copy of the joy of cooking, and my life is a few percent more complete. also some replenishing of yarn (most of which was destroyed by mice… did i mention?) and spices (penzey’s, oh penzey’s) which is of course good for that soul-y thing.

coming up is a sister visit. finally. we are not managing to see tom stoppard speak because the darn tickets are sold out. we may manage to see the frida exhibit. and we will most certainly cook. and stay up too late talking until i have to tell her to drink some water to rid herself of the gravel throat.

also, yet more progress on the house. i have cleared the large closet, squirreled away (sensibly and neatly) all the extra linens, all the bags, scarves/hats etc, and our ‘fancy’ clothing. with room to spare. extremely tedious and icky but satisfying to be done with.

also, will be working a dance show in april. hmmm.

or the lack of, really. my mother often asks why i can’t apply my job-related organizational skills to my life. i always reply with a large sigh and say that i’ve used them up. which is, you have to admit, a potential reason.

 nevertheless (i love that silly word! let’s just mash a few words together!)

what? oh yes, files. i’ve spent a rather unproductive evening (slowly, slightly productive) going through collections of papers and stuff in the hopes of condensing and tossing out. the amount of paperwork one requires to be an average adult human is astounding. and ultimately ridiculous. i do have a collection of file folders, filled with names of companies that take money, give money, hold money or otherwise have to do with money. apparently nothing else in life rates mountains of informative, useless paperwork. where is the three page, indecipherable form telling me what kind of flowers i like this year and where i like to take walks?

is it just my difficulty in organizing my personal life? is it an unwillingness to do the workof being a grown up? it is, as it seems on the surface, a dislike of everything being about money? i’ve been meaning to purchase one of those hundred dollar metal boxes to hold files, maybe that will help.

what else. it looks like i’m sliding back into the default (genetically programmed, i’m convinced) sleeping schedule. i’m also picking up that old habit of forgetting to arrange un-errand reasons to leave the house. i did however make it to the monthly stage managers’ gathering. a member volunteered to hold the gathering at her new house, which i liked far more than our usual restaurant locale. one of the students who shadowed me recently came to the event with others in her class–glad to see some young ones with potential. for pete’s sake (who is pete? one of the saint’s? is it not the less religiously loaded option i think it is?) i am calling them young ones. i suppose i’ve been around in this town long enough to be able to say it… and i am toying with the idea of becoming a certified teacher (on route to getting a ma or mfa in something so as to be able to teach at university level in more places…) though the thought of being a student again, having to take core classes that don’t interest me at all, having to be graded rather than simply judged, being treated like a young one…ick ick ick.

gingersnaps, that is. the project of the evening. and one of my favorite signs of fall.

most present thought today on the current show is that the costumes are gorgeous, lush, sassy, thoughtful, delightful in every way. even if it’s for just this reason, come see, come see.

i just watched steve (the very small and awfully friendly milk snake who lives down the hall with some other spritely neighbors) ingest quite a bit of sand with his dinner. mostly because he approached dinner left foot first, rather than head. i wonder–was he thinking, i wish i had hands to clean this sand off my mouth with (yes, snakes have a good understanding of dangling participles) or was he thinking, why do i live in sand? if the latter, i would tell him it is so that we can observe the lovely serpentine paths of travel.

hmmm. what else. oh yes! a confirmed sister visit is happening soon. a parental visit just passed (more on that later, there are some chatty thoughts to discuss from our tourist-y excursions.)

i’m beginning to alter my perspective in order to prepare for all of the 10am performances for this show. meaning, 2:18 feels soporific.  bed time for bonzo. (a saying of mine, the source of which i can’t remember…who is bonzo? not gonzo, not bozo…hmm.) in any case, i’m off. i won’t promise, but more babble is at least likely soon.

this morning the heat finally kicked on (we got lots of radiated warmth from our elderly neighbors on either side–take that, pustulant giant worm!) and awoke for the first time since it got chilly out to a cozy house. also one that smelled distinctly like a theatre–burning dust. right now i feel down right cold, but i gather it’s still somewhere around 70 in the house. perhaps a bit colder in the bedroom, which lacks storm windows. if i were a thermostat, i would check my warranty…

 but other than that, i’d like to complain about another monolith. verizon thought that it was time to change my time a few days ago. sometime in the wee hours verizon realized the error, and fixed it. today, however, the rest of the eastern time zone thinks it’s now 1:35, having fallen back. my dear old verizon phone still says 2:35. i even tried making a phone call to reset it’s tiny brain, but alas, still wrong. what is wrong with this company? is it such a hard thing to manage? i realize that for the first time in years things are different, but aren’t they supposed to be cutting edge?

and now on to computers. for some ludicrous reason, the computers at work are behaving badly. (and i do mean badly, not poorly–they are so pernicious in the annoying failings that i now believe them to be both sentient and malicious) outlook is screwing up in all kinds of ways. distribution lists stop working, sent messages aren’t saved, messages are censored when they shouldn’t be, and on and on. ditto with the various drives, which fail to map, fail to track saved items across the network, save things and then relocate them, and i’m sure all sorts of nice touches we haven’t noticed yet.  several of the machines (and yet, not all of them…) claim that they “might be at risk” because the necessary updates haven’t been made. hmmm. if only i knew how to fix these things.

also on the chilly front–i believe it’s time to bring in the herbs. the vegetables i’m going to allow to die a nice graceful frozen death. and there’s a baby philodendron just begging to live in ~someone’s~ house. along with some other babies… want plants? i know it’s a funny time to take in baby plants but i’m fairly certain all of them are strong enough to move to a new place without dying of shock. plants do this, you know. delicate little sensibilities and all. oh! also, the poor cactus that took a tumble off the windowsill (when a bird escaped, traveled to the kitchen, climbed the drying rack and began beaking about in the plants… naughty bird) and lost it’s top inch has started growing a skinny little spur on top. not as delicate as i thought. it’s sister plant (which did suffer death by sill-tumble when it became unbalanced in it’s pot) left me with two hooked spines in my thumb for over four months. i actually tried to catch it, and got what i deserved.

oh i’m babbling. i don’t care if it’s 1 something or 2 something, i’m a tired something.

there is a vortex that is created during and around tech week that essentially blots out all of the rest of the world. even when tech is going well (this one did) worldly interests slip so far down the to do list that you can actually forget about them. not forget for a minute, or a day, but really really forget.

 this is how i end up not calling back my mother for four days. also how i end up having to write on my hand that it’s time for a weekly steve (snake) feeding. also how dishes get funky in the sink, or i never make it to the bank to deposit this week’s pay. this is how i end up being glad that it rained because that makes it okay that i forgot to water the back yard plants.

what i mean to say is, tech week turns me into a thoughtless careless type person that ordinarily would disgust me.

but now tech week is over! the show is going very well; i’m comfortable enough with my own little role to really start taking notice of how well others are doing their part. which of course means we’re ready to open. which happens on wednesday. so i am about to surface again. everyone should come and see this play, and when you do i can apologize for ignoring you.