Who the heck do I think I am?

That was a thoroughly embarrassing audition.

I don't expect a callback.

I hate not being able to dance like a dancer anymore.

Ah, well. Moving on.

(In other news, I am the worst daughter ever, For the first time I can recall I did not talk to my mother on her birthday. Oops. I did call her - only four days late. Oops.)

Oh, hai, LJ! I remember that I have a thing here. I can post on it. I can read up on what my friends are doing.

Yeah. I haven't done, like, any of that since returning to what I like to call real life.

Job is going fine. Still feel like I'm swimming in an ocean of things I don't understand, but it will start to make sense; I see the edges getting more and more defined each day. Of course, my Wii no longer knows who I am. I went 42 days without using it. It yelled at me. Metaphorically. (And yet I did lose weight, because my schedule really has been that grueling.)

Show (Nunsense) went okay. Would have gone better had I not caught the flu at Balticon, thus losing my VOICE three days before opening night. Yeah. But it's okay. I wish I could say this is the first time in my life I've had to deal with such a thing. Luckily, long experience has taught me how to pull a credible performance out of my butt even when I have very little instrument to work with. The notes were all there, but all my air was simply going into sound production. And the middle of my range, right at the break, was just really friggin' scratchy sounding all weekend. But it worked; it's over; I did manage to find the sound somewhere.

So I've been recovering from that and trying to force my computer to cooperate long enough to record all the necessary vocals for Lena's LeakyCon project ("The Warlock's Hairy Heart.") - gods, I need a new computer. That is next on my list, I swear.

What else? Oh - most important: PENNSIC IS A GO! I may need to cut things a little shorter than usual, so that I can be home and back at work *on* the 15th, but yes, I am going to Pennsic. Yay!

I think that's about all for the time being. Watching the Bruins (since the Penguins must win next year instead) and Game of Thrones and playing HP Alternity. What's up with you lovely folks?

The Full Monty opened this weekend. We've had a couple reviews so far, both favourable. I'm actually mentioned in this one:

http://www.littlerhodytheater.com/2011_fullmonth_turtlelane.htm

(then again this reviewer apparently generally says good things about everyone.)

Anyone in the area, remember that this Friday and Saturday (March 4 and 5), I go on as Vicki instead of Pam. Come see me! Then tell everyone there how great my performance was. ;D

I was so stressed by the time we opened that I kinda had a meltdown afterward. Mainly it was the stress of dealing with the production side (and getting caught between the director and the TD). It was an extended meltdown, too: I was fried afterward and realizing that I just wasn't in the mood to party with everyone. If I'd started drinking I think I would have burst into tears. So I went home to have my breakdown in private and not bring everyone else down. Only I was too damn tired and fell asleep before I really did anything but leak out a few tears. Hah. Which meant that the next day I had to join up with everyone to go to WERS without having finished. So I kinda continued holding it in (which meant leaking here and there, wearing sunglasses and hiding in my coat hood) so that it wouldn't bother everyone else. Got back to the theatre (and retrieved my purse, which yes, I'd left the night before), went and replaced the wiper that had split on Friday (argh), got some Dunkin, and went home. My mother had called while we were at the radio station, so I called her back and finished my detox. Then I made a mac'n'cheese and chilled out for a while and felt much better.

Also, I got my new GC's from Amazon and ordered my Wii Fit. Today I cleaned the living room a little so I'll have space to play with it when it arrives. I've also downloaded the Netflix app (apparently in the wrong order to get points on Club Nintendo :( but the important thing is Netflix!) and I can get another $100 in GC's through one of my survey-taking places, which I can use to get a new compressor microphone to start recording for a couple projects.

The job front is another issue, though. Gang. I need help - I didn't get hired at MCP (the job my replacement at NU left). I don't know about BWH, but at this point I don't have a lot of hope. Temp jobs have been non-existent.

I know one of the pieces of advice I've got in the past is to work on my resume so that it's more about accomplishments for the company than a list of things I did. It's very difficult to do that, though, when one's jobs have been so task-oriented and not, for example, the kind of job where you can clearly point to something like, "I brought in 10 clients" or "Exceeded quota by 20% for 10 months in a row". How does one do that? Then there's the cover letter. I'm really conscientious about going through the job descriptions and linking what they are asking for to things that I've done that are either parallel or similar to those items. Doesn't seem to matter. WTF am I doing wrong?

Anyone have HR experiene who'd be willing to look over my basic resumes and/or read a couple covers? If I can develop some stock phrases that I can C&P into letters, at least it's something. Or if anyone has leads on Boston-area headhunters, agencies, or contacts with whom I can network.... help?

There's really no reason on earth I should be not working. /Stress

Yes, I realize I'm like the last person in HP fandom to see DH1 - well, except etakyma, because we went to see it together last night.

It was okay. It was better in parts than I feared, more painful in parts than I hoped, and surprising in a few ways. Best thing in the film was Jason Isaacs, though. I think he really did an amazing job of treading that line between scared shitless and trying to maintain the shreds of his dignity, authority, and prowess. The Endless Camping Adventure of DOOOOOOM was mercifully kept moving through the wondrous power of film - and basically skipping the monotony in favor of, y'know, actual plot development. Rhys Ifans cracked me up, mainly because all I could think of anytime he was on-screen was "Notting Hill" and the ridiculous Spike. Yaxley! I am so glad we have a visual for him now. Bill Nighy as Scrimgeour was also freakin' hilarious (though I didn't need the EXTREME close-up of the first few frames).

One moment of huge cognitive dissonance for me was the scene in the tea shop because I had immediately recognized the Death Eater later revealed as Dolohov - only I immediately recognized for the icons that the HP Alternity player has chosen for Rodolphus.... so I had to do a little mental somersault and reassign him in my head. (Yeah, I know. But HP Alternity rocks.)

There are some visuals I want to be able to spend more time on - like Sirius' room (I want MORE!) and Regulus' room (again MORE) and the exterior of the Manor (though not the interior - way too Gothic and not Georgian enough)... long hair on wizards is growing on me, especially styled like the head Snatcher. (I'm kinda glad it wasn't Fenrir, actually. I don't mind that change.) I'm also glad they didn't include Remus's freakout scene when he comes to 12GP because that was one of the bits that really pissed me off - not that he was panicked, but that Harry got all self-righteous with him and really had no clue what he was talking about. (The sequence just drove home why R and T weren't well-matched the way JKR wrote them.) On the other hand, the inclusion of George playing it cool in the face of Harry and Ginny making out? Price. Less. And Luna ALWAYS RULEZ. M'kay?

Oh, does anyone know why on earth the guy Harry polyjuiced into in the Ministry infiltration sequence (Runcorn), was walking so strangely? That was never explained as far as I can tell.

Hm. What else? Since I probably won't see it again until it's on cable or whatever.... I thought it was reasonable. Maybe it's because I'm just not as invested in the story anymore. I dunno. Heavy on the angst and woe in the opening scenes... but overall better than I was expecting.


In other news: Full Monty, baby! At Turtle Lane. End of February. I'm playing Pam and will play Vicki for some number of performances. This is awesome for a few reasons, not least of which that it comes with a very small stipend, which basically pays for the gas and probably for going out afterward. Yayz.

Still no word on the job - I'm told we will know something "this week." Argh. I needz a job.

My Christmas shopping is 2/3 done. And I bought a pair of PJs that I need to exchange for a different size. And the Penguins won, hoorah.


Tonight, I have been watching "The Princess and the Frog" on cable. Er. Well. It does have a bit to recommend it. But I still can't forgive them for Disneyfying her - though there is a better explanation for her outfit in the context of the story... she still was prettier and more appropriate before they mucked with her look. However. Keith David has always had a sexy voice. He's even sexier when he sings. SHIVER. (Oh, and it's worth noting that the dream sequence toward the end shows her in much the way they had her look originally.)

1. So, I got through my father's visit. More importantly, he left and I did not cause him bodily harm.

Not a whole lot to discuss, only because I've already been through the rants and I don't wanna do that again. We went on a whale watch, which was awesome fun but not enough to keep him occupied the whole visit, so he basically drove me up the wall the rest of the time. He was coughing like mad when he was here, ignored me, went to the Urgent Care clinic, got told it was bronchitis, misunderstood the clinician's instructions, and is now in Strong for a few days because it tipped over into pneumonia. Dumbass. (He's fine. They put him on IV antibiotics and he'll probably check out tomorrow. He's got his laptop and phone, and he even had pie last night. Mmmm, pie.)

2. No, I can't believe it's been two years, either. Yes, I miss him too.

3. I fucking need a job already.

4. Alternity continues to be awesome.

5. Two friends are switching coasts in the next couple weeks. We don't get together very often, but I wish them well in their new jobs (and hope in both cases it improves things considerably!).

6. First playreading committee meeting is tonight. No idea what the plan is there - I'm not in charge. Still wonder if I should gather up those soundtracks I have. I don't think I have any of the straight plays on our list in my library. Hm.

7. This is a silly / stupid thing but I found my little toiletry pack that was missing after Infinitus. YAY! I knew I hadn't left it behind. Tiny, tiny win.


I should be writing, or doing something else productive. I'm trying to remember to update here and not so much on LJ. I also need to get all my fic up on Archive of Our Own at some point. Yeah, there's a project....

Seriously. Animation style and everything.

I wrote down everything I could remember and I think with a little development it could be my novel. Maybe. It's got some dream-logic and a few interludes that need smoothing. But I swear I could see Studio Ghibli's animation the whole time. (Even when I was a character and so was my mother's church group - which was an interlude that could be excised, but we were live action and the rest of the characters were Miyazaki-san's hand-drawn style. Even the Judoon rhinos.)

Anyway. Nothing like waking up at 7:00, rolling over, and then 10 minutes later deciding, "No, you have to write this down before you lose it."


I was also cast in one of the shows I auditioned for, but the list isn't up yet so I can't say as who. But it's a great role and my first choice for that show and I'm hella excited to play it, though mildly worried about the production team.

Okay, first: I really miss Tim's Take!

Second: ( Spoilers )

Is anyone else watching Austin and Santino's Road Trip? They're like fashion's odd couple. I'm kinda glad it's only half an hour.


So I auditioned for a production of As You Like It last night. I don't expect a callback - but if I am called back it will likely not be for Rosalind. Ironically, they opened a good number of parts to cross-gender casting, and believe it or not, I was too butch for the part of the girl-pretending-to-be-a-guy. The director had me read a scene as Jaques - which admittedly would be a cool role, as would Touchstone. Still. It's kind of unsettling to realize that I played Rosalind 10 years ago already and apparently I'm now too old. :(


Okay, Burn Notice season finale, yay!

ETA: Yup, no callback. Not surprised.

ETA2: OMG, Burn Norice finale! Whoa. Now too jazzed to go to sleep so I'll watch the Royal Pains finale too. (Thank goodness for the two shows' marathons yesterday and today.)

I'm back and on the way to recovery from Infinitus. It was a long week, a long drive home, and I dunno, I'm still kinda living in a fog. So here's a random list:

- I really hate silverfish. I also really hate spiders in the bathtub when I'm set to shower. (Yes, grouchyoldcoot, we jinxed it. There was one in there this morning.)

- Watching 'Rizzoli and Isles' - the establishing shots of Boston include the CLS building! (Also Charles Malik Whitfield is in this episode.) (I haven't watched this before so it's on trial.)

- I won one of the copies of naominovik's new book! It was waiting when I got home.

- I'm sort of living in my bedroom because that's where the A/C unit is.

- I caved. I joined Facebook. I'm going to hate this. Fuck. etakyma is not allowed to go away again.

- Fiddler got nominated for 13 DASH awards. None of them my personal nomination, but best musical ensemble - that's cool.

- Alternity continues to be awesome.

- I finished Nameless. I enjoyed it.

- I've been on a very strange sleep / wake schedule since getting back Thursday. I think I'm finally on an even keel. Well, I woke up at 8 AM and it's 10 and I haven't napped yet. So I'll go to bed in a while and hopefully this will trend, instead of waking, napping for an hour or two every few hours, and getting in about 16 hours of sleep during the course of the day but at very odd intervals (like, 2:30-7 PM and 9-11:30 AM. ACK.)


- OMG I have so much BOOZE. Gang, everyone knew I was driving home so they gave me all their alcohol. And their food. So much food! So much alcohol! Unemployed me is grateful but the booze is more than I'll probably drink in two years. So it'll come to Pennsic with me. I hope the pre-mixed V/T doesn't go completely utterly flat and nasty (it's in the fridge to help guard against that). So... yeah. thanks. But wow, LOTS of booze.


- I still love the movie "Far from Heaven" - it was on last night and it's still beautiful. Sad, and difficult and terrible, but gorgeous.

- I'm still unemployed. I wonder how long it will take for the new extended benefits to get paid? I did motivate myself to apply for a job today, so that's a positive sign.

- Must work on lines! Must make more chemises. Must MOTIVATE.

- I need to finish unpacking and do laundry. Bleah.

- I made it to the grocery store! More milk. Bananas, cheese, bread. I have more than junk food, yay!

- I have a small rant, but I will refrain for now. It's really nothing important.

- Oh, and I forgot: I now have a light sabre on my phone. It's not the best app, but my phone is now complete. :)

Yeah. I'm really going to regret signing on to Facebook. I can tell. I hate it already.

It's been a weekend of really good food.

First, we had the Wellesley Players' Annual meeting on Saturday night. Always a good group of people. Some community theatre groups really aren't very social outside of shows, but this one really does function more as a large support network, as much as it is a group of people with a common interest in theatrical production.

The "entertainment" was fun - in that it was mainly a singalong. Yeah. Get about 50 musical theatre geeks together with a professional piano player and a tonne of music books. Stir. Very silly.

And there was one young lady for whom this was her first contact with us - how adorable is it that she came to Fiddler, loved it, decided, "I must get involved with this group" - saw the party notice on the website, asked if she could come, signed up to sing, hung out... I mean, seriously? That's just awesome.

Then Sunday a bunch of Players also went to a production of Annie Get Your Gun starring the young woman who'd played Tzeitel in our Fiddler. She was amazing - head and shoulders the best thing in the show (though their Frank had a great voice and was absolutely gorgeous, he was a weak actor). And afterward we went to dinner (technically I invited myself and A) at a restaurant down the street. We were all SO HUNGRY by the time we got to dinner that we were eating the berries out of our sangria glasses, praying for the bread to come, etc. But the food was excellent - I had mushroom ravioli - if a smidge more than we were planning (or had cash) to spend.

And then I had a fabulous dinner last night with byronhaverford at Market in Boston. I actually ate tuna! It was seared and rolled in a cracked rice cracker crust and it was really rather yummy. Then I had the lamb chops (mainly because someone in our party Sunday had had lamb and it put me in the mood), C had the bass, and we each hogged our desserts - his was a carmelized banana cake and mine was an absolutely DIVINE passionfruit souffle. Stuffed. And nearly 10:00 by the time we were done - gotta love fine dining!

An even more pleasant surprise to find that apparently, old job never shut off my T-pass, so when I went to add value to what I thought was a Charlie card with about $10 on it, I instead found that I had a Monthly Pass expiring on 5/31/10 (which is what it always says, then resets on the next month). I had been told they would drop the recharge once I went off payroll. Apparently someone has goofed - but I'm happy as it got me into town and back for "free" basically. (And yeah, if I'd known THAT, I'd've totally gone in to town that way the day I wound up paying $30 in parking!!!)

Of course that means I'm not 100% certain where the other Charlie Card is....


Meanwhile, shared my resume with a consulting / recruiting professional and she suggested changing to a "results-based" resume (yeah, the arrogance of that kills me), and beatricedwinter says I should craft multiple resumes focused on job area (i.e., one for conference planning; one for arts administration, etc.).

What are y'all's resume strategies? It's not a bad thing to redo the resume, mind, especially since re-uploading them generates activity / new interest on job boards.


And in totally other news: OMG, I have diverted a DISASTER of double-booking.

Back at Christmas, grouchyoldcoot gave me a gift certificate for tickets to see a touring company in the Pittsburgh CLO summer season. We had to pick the date and fill out the response card, and mail it in. Tickets were supposed to be mailed in April.

We looked at the schedule, selected our performance (Curtains) and date (June 26th), and sent it in.

And forgot about it. And I didn't update my calendar.

Last night, halfway through dinner, something triggered my memory banks. And I said, "OH, CRAP!! June 26th! A. We were supposed to get the tickets in April and it's May; B. THAT'S THE WEEKEND OF OUR REGISTRATION STUFFING PARTY!!!!" Ack. I simply cannot bail on that!

So, on the way home, I called Joel, who confirmed he had not received the tickets. This morning, I started calling around to confirm the tickets and hopefully get them changed.

Heh.

Well. First phone call only tells me that the ticket request was passed on. She transfers me to someone who tells me that they were processed and mailed and "There are no refunds or exchanges" - well, phooey on them, I think. But we might as well get the tickets and if nothing else, he can go with someone in town. Which would suck, but still. And I'm not convinced there's nothing that can be done, either. Because it's not like I want to exchange shows, I just want to change the date. But, she tells me I can call a different number to request a reprint. This phone call (after convincing the girl that yes, zip codes do start with 0 in some places!), confirmed that my tickets did exist, but I could talk to someone else to request a reprint. That someone was Luke, who, when I requested a change of date, said, "Sure!" and told me the available dates.

The show runs Tuesday - Saturday of that week. And I'll be in that part of the country the weekend before for Bardic Roundhouse in the MK. So. What do I do?

"We'll take Tuesday, thanks!"

Yeah, I am a master. Of course, this assumes that I will still not be working and have no demands on my time - but y'know, that's okay. I will take a job over "Curtains" if necessary, but as I do have the time at the moment, it's an elegant solution.

So it looks like I'll be in Pittsburgh on Monday, June 21st. Anyone want to get together?


Meanwhile, I am now back on the diet - balancing that with the fact that I have massive leftovers from Saturday's party (one of the advantages of being on the clean-up crew).

Yes, we did talk the whole night through. This icon is because the house where our cast party was this evening is almost Malfoy-worthy. It's at least the town house (the house where our cast filmed the silent picture is more like Malfoy Manor).

Sigh. Another show in the bag.

First off, I have to explain that I got home a little after four, removed my false eyelashes, washed my face, changed my clothes, put my leftover food away (not necessarily in that order), and realized I was not getting to sleep this morning. At least not before it gets light out.

So I decided to come out and blither on a bit about the final show, the cast party, and sundry other things. ( Which I will put under a cut to spare you all if you really don't want to hear me blither on. )


Unfortunately, next year they're doing "Rocky Horror" and I don't really think there's a role there for me. But as Wellesley's doing "Annie," I'll be trying for Hannigan, anyway.


It's quarter to six and getting light out! I should nap.