Upon the sand upon the bay

It's the end of a long summer

2007-08-21T20:27:00.000-05:00

Oh Santa Fe

2007-08-21T20:24:00.000-05:00

End of Week One of Rehearsals

2007-06-08T22:16:00.001-05:00

New Hairdo

2007-06-08T22:10:00.002-05:00

Oh, Santa Fe

2007-06-03T14:43:00.001-05:00

This has been the most social week I think I've had in years. Matt and I got to Santa Fe on Sunday last week and had dinner with all 9 stage managers. Then Monday, we had a welcome to Santa Fe party thrown by our boss, Jen. Then Tuesday we all went out to a bar to celebrate the intern's birthday. Wednesday we went out again. Thursday was a viewing of Platee, one of the operas we're doing. Friday we stayed late at work gossiping, and Saturday Rory threw a party because we all just hadn't hung out enough yet.
Holy crap. It's going to be one of the best summers of my life.

Hello, little Iris

2007-05-19T20:29:00.001-05:00

Bob Dylan's girl

2007-05-15T11:17:00.000-05:00

Bob Dylan had a girlfriend named Iris at the cattery where he came from. Now she's coming to live with us today. I hope it's not a huge contest of fur flying madness. Welcome, Iris!

Newer photos of poopsie

2007-05-13T13:49:00.000-05:00

Look! We have a bed now. No more college-type mattress on the floor for us!

Oh, the kitchen in bright, sunny yellow.

Oh, it's the little loft reading area....
Finally, Shawn's books come out of storage...

Pretty blue living room.....

The end of Cesare

2007-03-09T19:04:00.000-06:00

Oh, quite possibly the worst show ever. And it's done as of tomorrow....

It's starting

2007-03-06T11:41:00.000-06:00

Slowly the sun has begun to make it's way into Poopsie. It's amazing, really, how much of a difference a little sun and warm weather makes us all feel.

Bob Dylan has no idea why he's so happy. It's not the new kitty door, it's the sunshine filtering all throughout the house. The kitty door is the bane of his life. He hates it, and I'm scared he'll never poop again now that the litter box is in the basement proper.

Why do you look so happy, Mom?

2007-02-07T11:15:00.000-06:00

Oh, that's right.... after raising three children and unexpectedly having to go back to work 22 years ago, you're done. That's right, you can go early. In fact, why don't you just retire today. Sure! Why not? We'll pay you till your actual retirement day.
CONGRATULATIONS, Mum! Happy Retirement!

He stayed

2007-02-07T11:11:00.000-06:00

Bob Dylan is coming to visit today

2007-02-04T13:16:00.000-06:00

Today's the day that Dillion comes to visit and see if we all get along. I really hope we do because I've been wandering around work all week long saying, "Come here Bob Dylan, here here Mr. Tambourine Man!" I've tried out, "Matt Dillion, do you want some cheese?" "Dylan Thomas, don't eat that plant!" I believe that Bob Dylan works better than all the others. Since the cat is almost two, I don't feel it's right to chance his name, so I'm stuck with the Dillion part.
Let's hope it works.....

Christmas & Frank

2007-02-04T13:11:00.000-06:00

Frank had to wear a cone for two weeks after having his good eye had some work done. The other eye that was removed a few months ago is screaming now for a wonderfully bright pirate patch. I'm unsure of my color choices....

Christmas at home with the boys.

Oh, I haven't seen Keith in what feels like 15 years. OH, Martin. How far away you all are from me.

To replace the animals we have lost

2007-02-04T13:08:00.000-06:00

I bought Shawn a litle chipmunk from Archie McFees. Yippy!

2007-01-27T12:57:00.000-06:00

This is Tony. Shawn and I have enjoyed feeding him and watching him bury nuts while we sit on Poopsie's porch. Tragically, we were also housing him.

Oh Tony! You of the chewing, chewing, chewing. The squabbles we could hear you having with the rest of the family at a point in our roof where we seriously thought you guys were just hanging out. Shawn and I were in doubt, big time. We never thought you could so successfully gnaw at the house to create not one, but FOUR very large holes. I know you need someplace warm to go, but not in a place where you could potentially gnaw through the electric cords and burn my house down. Oh, and I'm scared that large volumes of your poo will rain down on my head someday while I'm watching the Gilmore Girls.
This little guy is Itchy and Scratchy. He came out of one of the squirrel holes, too! We're so happy he decided to come out because he wakes me up every night with his, "scratch, scratch, gnnnnaaawwww" I always role over, poke Shawn, and say, "Is it inside?" See, because we thought we found his little hole. And Shawn always says, "nooooooo, it's outside." I think to make me feel better and also so that he can go back to sleep. Once again, visions of poop dance through my head.
Ok, so this is home ownership.

2006-11-28T21:15:00.000-06:00

27 degrees today. With wind chill to 10 degrees. In Seattle. Stupid global warming. Clare and I went to CPR Class today. Yay!

Shawn comes to Denver

2006-11-16T15:21:00.000-06:00

I want a German Smoking man. Shawn and I purchased our first Christmas thing. And now I want a little smoking man...

Fall leaves at Poopsie

2006-10-28T17:41:00.000-05:00

Shawn keeps sending me these great photos he's taking. They just make me miss home too much!

Mustacho Fantastico!

2006-10-23T16:06:00.000-05:00

I never shared

2006-10-23T16:03:00.000-05:00

Remember last year when all the ladies at work were doing cross stitch? I never shared the one I made for big, strong Shawn. Here it is, my fantastic cross stitch handy-work.

Back I go....

2006-10-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

I just got home 5 weeks ago, and now I'm off again. So quickly. Too quickly. I'm heading to Denver on another mammoth road trip. This one is only 1300 miles. An easy 2-dayer. Santa Fe was 1450, so I should really count my blessings. Magic Flute deux, here I come....

when the color looks great on the swatch

2006-10-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

Rolando came to town with the tour of Wicked. I haven't seen him in far too long; we spent the whole two weeks wandering around and fixing up the Poopsie house. Shawn and I went to see Wicked, and then picked out paint colors. Maybe not the best idea......

I have a green den now.
It's green. I mean, we intended on green. A nice, bright, fill the house with light kind of green. Or so we thought.

But really, all it does is scream at me all day long. Hello? I'm hhhhheeeerrreee. I'm greeeeeeen. Want to get anything done? Sorry, no. I'll make you ill all day long because I'm so omni-present. You won't be able to look at anything else because I'm grrreeeeeeennn. Between this and the animal acrobats that danced on the roof all night, it's a frickin' party over here in poopsie.
Crap. I leave for Denver in two days. This just isn't right. Stupid color.

2006-10-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

Went for coffee with Kevin the other day. He was full of energy and somewhat spastic. At one point, he just up and ran away to climb these steps. Silly goose. He was goin' all crazy because we (Shawn, Mom, and Tommy) had just gotten back from Hawaii and I was all tan. I made the teeniest little remark on how pale he was, and he couldn't get over his poor choice of wearing black that day. Entertaining all around.

Oh, let the painting begin....

2006-10-03T11:04:00.000-05:00

hmmmmmm. should the living room be blue? the den green? Oh, yeah, and the little nighttime feeders were back the other night. crunch crunch crunch. I made Shawn wake up so he could be terrified with me. Poor guy. Ugh.

#67 reason that tells me I'm finally an adult

2006-09-29T13:43:00.000-05:00

Shawn and I have been shopping for a couch. I've never purchased a couch. How is this possible? I'm 31.... how have I gotten along in my life never having to spend craploads of money on a couch? We shopped for a looooonnngg time.
Clare is demonstrating me looking at the green room coach in a whole new light. We could reupholster it, give it new shine.... it has good bones....
I found out something new about myself. I hate shopping for furniture. It gives me that sick feeling in the pit of my belly. The money it costs....Jeez, you could go on 3 trips to Europe on the money I'm spending. Bed, couch, closet. Whew- thank god we found one...

It's not nearly as gray as the photo shows....more like a nice moss green. How much of an adult am I now?

Poopsie revealed

2006-09-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

It really happened. We bought a poopsie house. It's teenie. It's in the middle of Capitol Hill. I will have to live here forever 'cause its probably the only house I'll almost be able to afford.
The joys of homeowner ship have presented themselves in all sorts of great ways in the one week we've lived here.
The other night we woke up to the sound of chewing. Yes, chewing. It was so loud, it sounded like it was coming from underneath us. Inside the floor of the loft. Yippy! We bought some electronic mouse away gizmo and so far, no more chewing......

Poopsie 2- my new little home

2006-09-21T10:40:00.000-05:00

Oh, how I'd love to show it to you. Really. I would. But part of the reason I never update anymore is because the internet connection her at Shawn's place is a little difficult. And it only lets me upload photos once ever great while. So, I have to be satisfied with simply telling you that we bought Poopsie 2. It's true, a second little gingerbread house came on the market in the same complex and we bought it. I get the keys today and woke up this morning like it was Christmas. "Oh my god, I get the keys today" and my eyes flew open to greet the day. You all know what a huge dork I am so really, it's not a surprise. In other news, Rolando is out here for two weeks with the Wicked tour, so I get to drag him all around town going to Home Depot, the storage unit, and other silly tasks. I'll post photos soon!

An entire summer has passed

2006-09-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

How does that happen? Three months of my life are gone. I didn't even post once to tell you what an amazing and magical time Santa Fe was. I'm a dork. But here are some photos. Oh, and poopsie 2 came on the market and now I'm about to go through my second mid life crisis about a little bungalow. I'm gonna vomit.

2006-06-18T11:42:00.000-05:00

Oh, the catching up to do

2006-06-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been.... a very long time since last I posted. Yes, my little condo sold even though the first buyer dropped out. The second, the vampire, is supposed to be signing docs now, so I should see my little bank account inflate for a brief while.
The poopsie house? It's gone. Lost it by $5000. Which is fine. I don't have another chunk of money like that, so it's fine. Whatever. Now it's all up to Shawn and Brett, my realtor, to find the next place. Makes me giggle sending those two men out all around Seattle to find a home. I wonder what they talk about.....
I got to Santa Fe three weeks ago, and it's been very different from what I expected. Good and bad. Will fill you all in as the summer goes on....
The Roadtrip was so lovely, I can't even begin to describe it. I had no idea how much I needed to just plain hit the road....

See, I wasn't lyin'

2006-06-18T11:31:00.000-05:00

Ugh

2006-05-12T09:47:00.000-05:00

They called. Said they're waiting a week to see what an open house over the weekend does. Fine. If they had wanted more money, why didn't they simply list it that way? I put in a good, solid, full price offer. Stupid crapheads larger than life.

My little gingerbread house

2006-05-11T14:19:00.000-05:00

I put a bid on a little bungalow. It's what my mother would call a "poopsie" house. It's just about as much house as Shawn and I could handle. And it, the bid, expired at 12am last night. It's now a full 12 hours later and I haven't heard a peep from them. Not one little noise that would let me know either way.
I'm trying really hard not to be sad about this. I know as much as anyone what this market is, how strange and awful it could be, and I don't get my hopes up about any part of the process. Hell, my condo was on the market for two and a half months before it sold. In a market where places get into huge bidding wars. you don't get excited about any part of it, and you certainly don't fall in love with places knowing that you can be outbid at any moment.
But, this is my house. It's mine. I knew it the moment I first saw it, and was ready to sell my first born for it. I hadn't even stepped foot inside. It's full of magic and was meant for me. I'm crying so much right now, even as I type this. God, it's just a house. But it's mine. Why don't they call?

Mickey B

2006-05-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Oh, poor Clare. It's been a tough show for her. For all of us, really. MacB turns out to be an absolute mess to produce. I don't think I've been through such a difficult show since Hoffmann.
Thank god the weather has been gorgeous and we've gone to the coffee shop for sun on dinner break.
Frank comes and visits Titi on the break, and on that day is was a bit of Pugapalooza outside.
It strange, we're all still together, but with Maddy being in Wardrobe now, we don't get to hang out with her often enough. She's loving the new job, though, and that's all that matters. Ok- off to pack!

Shawn got a fancy computer

2006-05-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

And it has this little camera mounted in it. I admit, there may have been a first ever boob shot completed to utilize this new technology. But it looks more like a cantelope. I don't know whether to be proud or horrified.

Oh, the little condo, she was sold!

2006-04-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

Goodbye, little cute view! Oh, crap. There's too much to do before closing.

Thank God Seattle has been so frickin' beautiful lately! Shawn and I spent a few hours on the day off in the sunshine drinking coffee and reading books....

Oh, Capitol Hill.....

Dan's 30! Oh, and this little blog is back up

2006-04-23T13:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Dan! We all went out last night to celebrate Dan's big 30. His ladyfriend, TJ, got everyone to make him a mix CD of their favorite music to fill his brand new IPOD with. Yay! It's strange, but it's the first time in what feels like forever that everyone came out.
Melissa dropped her purse and found a sock. Not so strange if you consider the bar we were in...
Even Clare came out. It's good to get her the hell out of her crazy life every now and then.

All had fun, all had a good time, and thank god this friggin' winter is over.
Apologies to any and all that read this and are pissed off that I've disappeared. My little computer had some problems, I couldn't get blogspot to be happy, and then really, I've just been doing nothing but waiting for something to happen.
It just did. I got an offer on the condo the other day and now it's difficult to type due to all fingers being crossed at all times hoping it all goes through. I'm supposed to close 5 days before I leave for Santa Fe.....crap. What the hell do I do with all my stuff?

2006-03-06T11:03:00.000-06:00

Out with the gals, walking by Toys in Babeland....

Out at chapel this weekend. Shawn got me tickets to see Ben Folds on Saturday. If he hadn't done the legwork of picking the date, looking at my calendar, buying tickets, and presenting them to me I never would have gotten my ass to the theatre for one of the best shows I've ever seen.
It has been a DJ crazy month, with seeing Josh begin his fantastic stint in "FLEA MARKET" at great clubs all around the city and the debut of DJ Sharp at the Mercury the other night. Well done, Paul! In a club where you can still smoke! It was heaven.
In other news, my far flung friends are really having a rough time of it. I send huge love to Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Fort Collins today. I don't what the hell spring has to do with any of this, but life better start turning around for all of you soon. I love you and my extremely large cell phone bill.

The fruit of my sister's loins

2006-03-04T20:26:00.000-06:00

Not only does the bangle look suspiciously like bakalite, but the face is so reminiscent of the Too Much Light baby that I'm still not quite convinced she didn't pop out of ME 6 years ago. She is the Kiss woman is the cutest package we've ever made. Thank god she got the good genes.

2006-02-20T10:24:00.000-06:00

My current knitting project. Yup, I go straight from scarves into strange wig hat territory. Dez, do you see why I'm so confused?

Ah, the chill winter wind

2006-02-20T10:07:00.000-06:00

It's cold in Seattle. Yes- a brisk 35-40 degrees. When Shawn and I got to the car, there was....gasp....ice on the windshield. Silly me, don't have a scraper in the car. Why not? I live in Seattle now. We have no need of stinkin' scrapers...

Went out with the ladies the other night to the Wild Rose. A delightful time was had by all, and we laughed at all the silly boys in there. I mean really, how can you not know it's a lesbian bar? They were all strutting around, checkin' out the ladies....It made us all giggle.

In other news, it was so pretty out yesterday that Melissa and I took the dogs to Discovery Park. I say the dogs, because I've decided that Frank really is mine. Or at least, I'm the godmother 'cause I get to take him whenever I feel like and he loves me a lot. Thank god Titi got this smushy little pup for me to take all my nuturing feelings out on.

Goodbye little condo

2006-02-05T14:21:00.000-06:00

And so, it goes on the market tomorrow. All 400 square feet of the largest debt I've ever had in my life. I love this little house more than life itself. I know it's time to move on, I mean really, how long can a girl spend in a tiny place that doesn't fit her big strong man and his fuzzy kitty. I could indefinitely spend my life at this level, but it stilts me. Ugh. Let's hope it's like ripping off a band aid. Quick, and jarring. That way the pain will be deadened by the relief at finally being able to move on. Getting rejected on our first offer due to the contingency was the straw that broke the camel's back. It's time to see just what sitting on a little piece of property does.
Thankfully, Frank has been distracting me quite effectively this week. The bathroom nonsense has driven me to the brink, but the new tile really does pull it all together. It was such a trial, but now at least I know I never need to do it again. Ever.

Goodbye little window seat with your sparkling views of Puget Sound. Next time I see you, it'll be from another tiny condo with a different perspective.

2006-01-30T12:03:00.000-06:00

oh, anyone want to buy the cutest 400 square feet you've ever seen? It's a great co-op in lower Queen Anne. Top floor, quiet building, views, low HODs....anyone? Bueller?

Arg......yes, like a pirate

2006-01-30T11:56:00.000-06:00

Know why I don't update more often now? I'm condo shopping. It's horrid. Ugly. Arggggg....
Tried to put a bid on a perfect place last week and got rejected due to our contingency. See, I'm trying to be responsible and not own two condos at once, thereby strapping myself to the point of not even being able to eat ramen, and they won't even let me do that. Stupid crapheads. Good news? Well, the bank did approve me to spend 44% of my income on my next mortgage. Crazy, isn't it? What happened to the days of spending a quarter of your income on housing? I don't think I have one friend who owns property and doesn't spend at least half their income on it. This generation sucks for buying property.
So, the little condo on Queen Anne is going up for sale. The other part of the situation I don't have the answer to is how much I can actually spend on the next one. Problem is, I have NO idea how much mine will actually sell for. Until we know how much cash I get out, we don't know how much cash will go in...this is a thousand times worse than buying the first condo. It's moments like this that I just want to pack it all in and move to Italy. I've been a barista, I could do it again, and learn a fancy pants language at the same time.....
Arggggg....

Merry Christmas to me...

2006-01-24T11:28:00.000-06:00

For Christmas this year I asked for what every girls really wants. A gift certificate for Home Depot. See, it was time to do the bathroom, but I'm lucky. Since it's the smallest room in the tiny condo, I had some money left over to get rid of the fantastically huge track lighting cans from 1983. I replaced them with these lovely orange glass cans. Ohhhhhh. So modern and delicate. Thanks, Mum! I swear, who ever buys this place had better love color or I'm in deep doodoo.
And so, the bathroom remodel begins. I'm not sure if the painting is actually going to work. I'm really unsure, but I figure once I get it all together, lord knows I have enough time right now to deal with it.
Problem is, I pulled up a little corner of the lino to "see what was underneath". Tim came over and pulled a little more. Sadly, the old tile is gone, but then I had this hanging flap of a corner and Tim said "we can tile this in two days!" I believed him, and now am starting one of the worst projects I've ever tackled. Pulling up linoleum, backing, and adhesive off of cement. It's the worst idea I've ever had. It took me 6 hours to get this far......

Crap. Ah well, At least tile will add value......right? In other news, the new condo search is hard. Really hard. This market is killing me. The second a good looking condo comes on the market it's "subject to inspection". How the hell do they do that? I mean, the stupid thing just got listed! But, I'm being patient. Really patient. I do believe in house destiny, and the right one will come at the right time. I'm going to see a new construction in Ballard tomorrow. Wish me luck...........

2006-01-09T15:12:00.000-06:00

This is one of the many reasons I had to say no to that offer in Chicago..........

His majesty we celebrate.....

2006-01-09T15:06:00.000-06:00

Ah, Fledermaus. Here's a few photos from a night out with the singers.

They're cutting loose, ripping it up. Chris is a singer I worked with a bunch in college. Strange that I finally get to work with him so many years later.

Roger cancelled his contract in Colorado where we would have worked together. He was the Don Jose that jipped us. Strange how that works out....

Happy Christmas, baby!

2005-12-27T11:36:00.000-06:00

Chitown for a brief three days. It's the longest I've ever gone without the city. Spent furtive nights with friends, and leisurely days at home playing cards.

Clara took my camera the next morning to document the madness. I'm so frightened by her all around artistic sense. She's good at anything she does. creepy.

2005-12-14T10:26:00.000-06:00

http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com

It's all the rage for stage managers at the opera. Fantastic.

Stupid Work

2005-12-14T10:13:00.000-06:00

It's awful. I start working on a show, and I completely abandon this little blog. Yes, I'm back in Seattle, and yes, I've started working on a new production. Fledermaus. I've done this opera something like 15 times. It's kinda creepy, as is doing this opera with my friend Chris in the role of Falke, as he was the first time I did it over 10 years ago in college. See, it finally comes full circle. Go to theatre school, dream with your friends about what it'll be like working together in the big houses, grow up, see them years later, and find out what 10 years of non-for-profit arts does to them. Kinda makes me giggle. Actually, we haven't stopped giggling yet. This show is just silly bit after silly bit, and with the cast that we have, it makes me feel like I'm in an episode of Wagner's twilight zone. I mean, really, when you've got the world's best Siegfried with the world's best Brunhilde, it just gets ridiculous after a while (insert opera geek joke here).
In other news, I've begun shopping for my next home. The littlest condo in the world just won't fit big strong Shawn and his cat, so it's time to look for something that has....gasp.....a bedroom and doesn't have a pet clause. See, that way my current dream of a house, a dog, and a ford falcon will come true. I suppose most may dream of a little picket fence, but I want the falcon, damn it. Oh, and I'll get it. I saw a falling down duplex last week for the bargin price of $424,000 and then saw a slew of condos that just plain don't have the magic of Olympus Manor. It's tough living in a city where people are willing to mortgage out their first born for a home. I guess it's really no different than any other big city. Stupid cities and their desirability.

The smoking ban

2005-12-05T10:31:00.000-06:00

is absolutely chapping my ass. I haven't been a city mid-turnover, but it'll occur this week Wednesday. Last day to smoke in public places. We went out Saturday night to whoop it up and smoke as much as possible.

4,000 miles later.....

2005-12-05T10:14:00.000-06:00

I return home.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
My little home is so beautiful. It was amazing to walk in. What was not so amazing was the cold. It's the first snap of winter I've really had (unless you count the one day of snow in Denver). Coming out of sunny Las Vegas, driving 17 hours, and arriving in COLD was a bit hard. But I'll take it!
Last round of photos from the trip.
Tagebuch accompanied by a Budweiser somewhere in Arizona. There were these crazy Burros that ran all over the town. Odd.
On route 66.
Protege was so great throughout the trip. Who knew such a little car could be so fantastic.
Poker night at Karen's house. It was a little chilly that night in SoCal.
The fire was blazing, chips were flying, and I finally learned how to play poker. Until 4am.
Karen Read. Best friend since October 26th,1988. And she makes great babies!

Road Trip take two

2005-11-18T22:51:00.000-06:00

Carmen. She is done. The road, oh, how it calls....

The Protege is doin' great. Look at her, sitting there so patiently. Awaiting the 2000 miles she's about to receive.

Introducing Jacque. A lesser known species of mule deer.....a moose deer. He's standing in for Marvin who's currently advising my mother on a daily basis on her impending move to Seattle.
See, Mom? It's the map of scenic biways....
Shawn and I have this problem.
We keep having to take the pictures of us by ourselves.
They keep turning out kinda silly. That is, till the Germans descended upon the Grand Canyon and demanded our camera to take a decent photo.
Yippy. One photo where we don't look slightly retarded.
And, so it's done. I'm back in La la land. Shawn goes back to Seattle tomorrow, and then I follow next week.....

Dog Walking

2005-11-05T12:09:00.000-06:00

And so, slowly, I reclaim my little life

2005-11-03T14:51:00.000-06:00

Carmen is almost open. So almost open that I got to take a walk in City Park with the dogs yesterday.
I'd love to show you the photos, but for the past week or so this blogger site has been very picky about letting me post photos.
So....I'll keep trying and soon you'll get to see the magic that is City Park.

Tra la la la la

2005-10-23T11:47:00.000-05:00

I don't think Stephen Wadsworth has any idea how deep his influence is in opera companies around the country. It seems to permeate everything we do. I wasn't even the one to bring the rubber chicken. I swear! I was walking outside of the symphony the other day and they have these speakers out back for the crew to hear where the show's at.....I heard the last page of RHEINGOLD and realized just how much I missed that opera. And, in a very strange way, how much I missed the summer.

And Carmen rolls on....Stormy makes a good pirate, but she and Franchesca brought cheerleading outfits for Halloween, so sadly, we'll not see her as a swashbuckling ASM anytime soon.
Tim Buck, Master Carp, is in town doing the load in. It was his last night in town and many hijinx ensued. We had a few drinks....
Then went for a carriage ride in the city. It was chilly, we were all snuggled under the blankets, and our horse's name was Storm. Ha ha ha!
The driver took us to all the clubbing streets in town. It was a very nice juxtaposition. Wandering around town at the speed of a horse with techno blasting from all the clubs around us.
It was such a delightful evening.....and then Tim had to go back to Seattle.

2005-10-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

How horrendously lax have I been? Oh, it can only mean one thing. Opera. Lots of it. It's true, I haven't been able to photograph anything lately. It's not that there's nothing to snap, it's that I'm suddenly shy pulling the camera out at all opportunities with people I don't know as well. So I photograph the city. The cafes. The bookstores.

This is my new dinner-coffee-if it's not raining-spot. It's a big ol' bookstore called the tattered cover. Very nice.

She can't be mad at me for photographing her. This is Foxy. Park and George's pooch. She lives in the big old rambling Victorian I'm staying in. I get to walk her whenever I want. She's exactly the dog I'd get if I could. It's funny, because I've had a ridiculous amount of dog fever lately. I have no idea where this is coming from, but I'm convinced that before this year's out (2006), I'll have a new place to live, a '60 Ford Falcon, and a little Foxy of my own. Who knows where the hell I come up with this stuff.

In other new, Carmen is going well, all things considered. Getting to finally meet and work with Rupert has been an absolute delight. One could get addicted to having folks like him around. Tim Buck, Master Carp of Seattle Opera, is here with us loading in the set. He's such a good man...makes me miss home all the more....

End o the first week

2005-10-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

The end of my first week in Denver is good. This company and their policies just make me giggle, as we only have the first cast Carmen for one day before tech, the second cast Carmen for two and a half days before tech, and a Don Jose who comes two days before tech. Not to mention a director who comes and goes and an AD who's never done the show. Oh, and we only have 8 days to stage the double cast show before tech. The whole thing just gets sillier with each phone call. But the people are great, the city is so beautiful, and the weather finally makes me smile.
All in all, a decent beginning to what will surely be a strange ride of an opera. Oh, and it's a brand new opera house with all the problems that'll cause....Ugh.

2005-10-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

The snow is gone, and Denver is once again a beautiful place. It's turned out to be a good, fall week. The opera is coming along, even if we just lost a tenor, and things are slowly taking shape. The company is good- I'm really starting to enjoy it.

My little coffee shop. It''s so nice and empty here; the have free wi-fi, too! Yippy! Oh, and they let me smoke, which as you all know, is necessary. I come here way too often, but it's a good spot to hang out in.

Stormy Edwards. She's kickin' butt and taking names. Thankfully, we seem to have gelled again right off the bat.

Franchesca. Great ASM, good friend of Stormys....

That's all for Denver photos so far. I'm so lame, have barely taken out the camera. I'll do better!

Holy Crap

2005-10-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

Denver is so frickin' cold and it's SNOWING. The last time I saw snow was over the holidays at home in Chicago. There, it was cute and nostalgic. Here, it's depressing and annoying. I had to buy a scraper for my car and now am out hunting for warm insoles for my little shoes. I completely forgot how difficult it is to get crap done when everything is WET and COLD. I've turned into such a west coast baby!

End of the Road

2005-10-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

Our last full day...we spent the whole of it driving around the Colorado Rockies hitting any strange site that struck our fancy. Little car did very well on the hills, but the road aptly named "Oh my God" road scared the heck out of me. It was a lovely day, all told, but the end of the road came too soon. 1,887 miles later we arrived in Denver, checked into our hotel, and toasted our last glass of wine. Great trip, all things told, and I can't wait to do it again.

Flaming Gorge and others....

2005-10-07T08:21:00.000-05:00

As you can see, the fall colors have completely exploded all over our trip. The second we descend into forested areas, it's like a virtual wonderland of autumn colors. We're such lucky devils!

Mid week on the Road with Mom

2005-10-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

We are happy, somewhat healthy (me- nasty cold in my nose, Mom- nasty cold in her chest), and amazed at all we've seen so far...

On the road again.....

2005-10-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

And off we go....Mom and I got an early start on Monday morning heading west via #90. It was a beautiful morning drive.....

The Cascades were just waking up as we drove into the mountains. Mom had a thousand travel books at her feet and read aloud as we drove....

Our first stop was the little town of Roslyn. We were, of course, starving, and got a bite to eat in a little bar. So begins my horrible coffee experiences. They have not gotten better since.

Mom enjoys our little mascot in the back window very much, but we had to get a new one, so.....
Meet Marvin the moose. He sits by my gas gauge and tells us when to refill.
We never stop bird/animal watching. The list goes on and on as to what we've seen so far on our scenic byways. Mountain sheep, falcons, hawks, sandhill cranes, and of course, a million magpies. We were told there were turkeys running around, and spent hours looking for them. I think they were putting us on...
The country is beautiful. We're now in Idaho on our way to Craters of the Moon State Monument. We'll post more later.....

10:15 on a Saturday night

2005-10-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

We went to a fancy party on Consolidated Works last night. It was a fun filled evening of music, strange art projects, and some very fancy dress.

I do enjoy the heck out of strange artistic types, so it turned out to be very entertaining.
All the boys had a crush on the blond trapieze artist. Except Dan. He was gunning for the brunette. Paul actually said, "That's the most beautiful trapieze artist in the world."

We ended up out in the back bar....
Fred.
Time to go to sleep! Thank God Fred can drive stick.....

2005-09-30T12:06:00.000-05:00

I've been so lame the past few days and haven't posted a thing. Reality is, I haven't done anything that seems interesting enough to photograph. I've been knitting like a fiend, listening to copious amounts of This American Life, getting coffee with folks, and beginning to pack. See, the image above? It's Carmen. The production I'll be doing next at Opera Colorado. We're opening a brand new opera house with it. I've never worked at this company, and there's a new production/technical director as well so the two of us will be reinventing the wheel a bit. Kinda nerve racking. Ah well, I'm sure it'll be stellar. It's Carmen, for god's sake, it'll be fast, furious, and over before I know it.

Mom gets here Sunday and we begin a week long trek out to Colorado. Thank friggin' god. It's time to hit the road and see what America's roads are like at this time of year.

another Hawaii teaser

2005-09-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

Clare, Chuck and I took a swimming with dolphins tour on our last morning there. Here are just a couple photos of that......

Fred says

2005-09-26T21:06:00.000-05:00

"when the right vintage car comes along that you're meant to have, you'll know."

Crap. It's a Falcon. Who knew? Why a Falcon? I mean, there's so many other cars out there that are much cooler. But, Fred also pointed out, the Falcon is the choice car of Mr. Kavon. So, maybe that's a good thing. Went to a car show with Fred over the weekend. Saw some nice cars.......
It was a lovely day, not too hot.... We wandered around, then went to his shop to look at his old cars. Beautiful things.

Sunday morning I woke up, went to get a cup of coffee, and ran into him.
Boston Terrier/French Bulldog mix. Ugh. I want one so bad! Stupid co-op. Stupid no pet rules.

Then spent the rest of Sunday and most of today with Melissa and her little knee.
We spent the days working on knitting projects, listening to old episodes of This American Life, and watching her knee go up and down. She final got it to bend to 90% today. Yay!
Then I went home and caught the most beautiful sunset over the city. You can see Mt. Rainier looming off to the right; you know, the big volcano that will take us all out someday.....
And the view as I plopped down in the kitchen to tie up some loose internet ends. The sunsets are so pretty here in the fall. I think I'm starting to love this city. A bit.

Friday full of love

2005-09-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

Melissa, Clare's sister, has been messing her little knee up something fierce. For years now it's been going out all over the place. At Kung Fu, while at work, it's really a sorry little sight. She finally busted it up so well that the docs decided it was time to give her a new one.
I went over to the sick house yesterday to hang out with her post surgery.
We went out to Clare's porch to smoke.....
watched the grain elevators fill ships.....and began to hear rustling down in the blackberry bushes that come up to the porch edge....
looking down, we couldn't see much, but thankfully, they soon stopped.
.
I went back out to smoke later when Melissa's knee was dozing, and the rustling started up again. This time, though, they came up for air. Rats. Lots of rats. Chuck came home and decided to get out the pruning shears before they decided to make the leap from blackberry bush to porch. Seattle's so weird because it IS a city. With rats and everything, but you always forget that 'cause it's so damn pretty.

In other news, Shawn and I saw Nine Inch Nails last night at the Key. It was unbelievably good. I was floored at how much better the songs sound live. The last time I saw them was 15 years ago, so I guess it makes sense that they'd get better with time, but crap they were good!

This morning I decided to finally finish my little crocheted camera case.
It's turning out....ok....certainly not my best work, but hell, at least the new camera has a home and isn't just flailing around my purse awaiting scratches from my keys and other crap.
Mom will be very upset at how little my skills have developed since the Ipod case at Christmas. Ah well, nothing to be done for it.

Wow

2005-09-22T11:57:00.000-05:00

I went to bed last night and there were fifty people who visited the site. This morning it's up to 71. Who the hell is reading this? Is it you, my far flung friends? Are you actually reading it? I mean, I know Mom is reading it, she comments all the time, but who else is reading is? Meganie? Karen? Mr. Byrne? Bootyslappa?

11 days to go

2005-09-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

I bought the TageBuch, you doubting Thomas of a mother, and I bought a book of stories from the alternative press that we can ready aloud as we're flying across the country with the man in black blaring from the stereo and the wind whipping our hair.

What the hell do I do all day?

2005-09-22T11:38:00.000-05:00

Being unemployed at home is weird. I mean, really, really weird. Usually at this point I'm off an running visiting people all over the frickin' place, but this year, not so.
I go to Ladro. It's almost guaranteed that I'll run into someone to gossip with. It's freaky the way we all show up there at the same time almost everyday.
Paul came over to use the internet machine the other day.
I spent that time finally reading the instruction manual for my camera. The first photo was taken using the "underwater" setting. This one is the "indoor" setting. I feel bad because other people who buy this camera and see the underwater setting probably think they can actually take the camera underwater when the reality is you still have to buy this gynourmous case for it to make it water tight. I simply use it for more interesting color saturation.
We had a beer. Moments like this take up much of my time these days. Yesterday I did spend quite a few hours at Maddy's house painting and such while she operaed away. I organized her kitchen, so now she'll be calling me all year long asking me where I put the flour and marshmallows.
We went to Red Mill for dinner and saw this car on fire in the middle of Ballard. It was crazy, and we waited thinking it would explode (the waiting had nothing to do with the fact that I could barely move due to the large amount of beef in my belly. Damn those burgers really are great.) but the fire trucks came roaring and put out the blaze.
To end, yes, Mom, we could buy a little house in Ballard, but I think this one is better. It's just up the hill from me and costs only $2,300,000. That's a mortgage of like, $10,000. We could do that, right? I mean, it has 17 bedrooms. More than enough, I think.

Madeleine bought a little house.....

2005-09-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

Maddy and Chris went shopping for a house in Ballard. One of the highest priced neighborhoods in Seattle. They shopped and searched, poking around all sorts of places in and out of their pricerange, but each time they went to bid, were beat out by all the other little buyers running around Ballard. Slowly it dawned on them, they'd need to be sneaky to get a little house! So the next house that came around, a large old craftsman owned by the scarriest pack rats to ever live in Seattle, Maddy and Chris pounced. They offered three weeks free rent to the pack rats to get all their stuff out (with a sneaky clause that if they didn't, Maddy & Chris got to keep some money for "clean up"). 9:00 came and went on moving day, but still the pack rats scuttled about. 10pm, 11pm, 12am.....finally, at 1am the pack rats were kicked out and the locks were changed. Maddy and Chris slowly looked around, and this photo above is just a sample of the huge stacks or crap left scattered as far as the eye could see. They even left the dishwasher full of dishes. So now the work begins....
Maddy became the superhero "CLEAN GIRL" and I became "TRIM GIRL"

This of course was due to my amazing talents at painting trim.
See, behind us you can see the beautiful new hardwoods.....oh, it'll be so pretty when it's done!
And then, next summer, we shall sit upon this porch in rocking chairs laughing about all the months of painting, scraping, cleaning, demolishing, and just plain work it all took to buy a little house in Ballard. But the mint juleps will be lovely.

She'll dance her way through the western states with us.....

2005-09-20T18:31:00.000-05:00

In less than two weeks....

2005-09-20T11:51:00.000-05:00

we will be here with a nice, crisp bottle of wine and the little opener that lives in my car so that we may flippantly open nice, crisp bottles of wine whenever we may feel like it and stop and drink said wine while laughing at the little rodents that cross our paths and sigh as we look out at the little birds nesting in the trees and smile at the warm sun upon our faces and marvel at how good life is if you just stop with a nice, crisp bottle of wine every now and again.

The week-o-music

2005-09-18T15:58:00.000-05:00

Woke up Saturday morning and went to Ladro. It was kinda like walking into that show, "This is your life". It seemed that everyone decided to stop by at the same time.

All the normal suspects were out. Gossiping, getting their first cup of joe. Catching up at the start of a big day. See, it's Dead Can Dance tonight at the Paramount. Very exciting for all the gothic folks here at Ladro. It's got the same feel as the day of Prom; too bad I don't have that photo to throw in here. The scanner is my next big electronic purchase, so soon all those will come out! Just to get into the flavor of the night, though, I submit my prom photo for the show with my date, Paul.
Don't we look fancy? We had to, I mean, Dead Can Dance is kinda like gothic opera. Plus, they haven't been out touring for 10 years. Last time I saw them was at the Vic in Chicago. To this day, it sticks out in my mind as the fanciest concert I ever went to.

The show was beautiful. Better than I could have hoped for. The audience was a bit crazy, though, as we had a noise nazi in front of us who made me giggle every time she "shuushed" someone. I felt like tapping her on the shoulder after the show and offering up an opera season pass. She seemed the type. Speaking of which, Lisa Gerrard, the lead singer, would make an ass kickin' Erde in the Ring. I mean, really. I kept wanting here to pull it out, but she never did....
Drinks after were at the new Bad Juju Lounge. I feel like a card that I didn't know the bar had moved, but there it was, in it's new home smack dab next to Neumos. It wasn't too crowded, and Paul and I met the camel lady, which is always a nice treat for smokers out for a night on the town.
We proceeded to the drinking, vodka soda for me, martinis for Paul. I can't do martinis. The last time I had one was at the Green Mill in Uptown. Holy crap, I was in a sorry state. Those drinks are pure evil.
Josh and Shawn came out later on and joined us because Paul and I were going on about how great the DJ was. Of course, as soon as they showed up he started playing crrraaapp. But, such is life. All in all, was a very entertaining evening. Much fun was had, and then I slept away half my Sunday.

What does a stage manager do when unemployed? Why, make enormous dumplings, of course!

2005-09-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

This is Bill and Drea. Bill was my first boss at Record Town in the lovely Golf Mill Mall. I then got Drea a job there. Here we are, 14 years later. Bill up and left his job at Borders in LA due to excessive corporate scarriness. He's now contemplating a move to Seattle; I mean, who wouldn't really? Seattle is the town that all locals try hard to keep the "it rains all the time" myth strong to stop all us crazy folk from moving too. I think they've almost given up the ghost as home prices now match Chicago for idiocy.

In other news, I made Austrian Plum Dumplings yesterday. They were huge, gorgeous, and tasty as hell. I have such distinct memories of eating them as a kid in Suzanne's kitchen, I just had to try to make them myself. It took alllllll day. But they really were delightful. I think unemployment is good for me. Keeps my domestic skills strong. Now I'm off for a long walk around the city.

2008, Mrs. Kiss comes to stay

2005-09-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

Hallo, Hanna? Where are you? I don't get it....ohhhhhh.....it's another three years away. Ok, I get it...well, at least it's not five years.

The somewhat strange antics of unemployed girl and her friends

2005-09-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

Started out yesterday trying to get all life things reorganized. Balanced the checking account, paid some bills, washed my windows (which is another highly interesting tale of cleaning original 1933 windows in the third floor from outside) and then Malissa came over after work to kvetch over coffee. We decided to continue the gossip over drinks at the Mirabeau later that evening.
Turns out she dragged a bunch of friends from Ladro over to wish me well coming home.
This is Fred. My one and only rockabilly friend in town. He'll be my date when we go to the shake the shack rockabilly fest at the tractor in a few weeks. We're going to get all gussied up and make Dez proud. Lord know, many photos will be taken.

Shawn came out a bit later on and joined the festivities. He had to watch football during the day and I have a somewhat strict no strange americana sports on my boob tube clause. It's a good thing he has a great new TV at his place, or I would have had to leave the house.

Paul came out after trying to break into his school today. He'll be my date later on this week to go see Dead Can Dance. We will also get all gussied, but for this show I do believe my old goth side has to come out. That'll be a kick in the pants.
Moving on to the next bar, Noc Noc, while Malissa coordinates with others, we speed down the Seattle streets with Mr. Shawn at the wheel due to my copious vodka and soda consumption.

Noc Noc had some strange party going on, so we headed over to Chapel where Dan was DJing. It's a bar in what used to be a funeral home. They took down all the body lockers and such and made the bar out of them. A very cool vibe, and not too crowded on Sunday nights.
This was supposed to be like Paul's angels, but somehow, half of us got cut off. Stupid beer messing with the camera man.

Malis and I are trying to show big boobies to the camera, that part didn't work, but I do enjoy Paul's strange look in the background.
The boys tried to match us, but I strongly feel they were not nearly as successful. All in all, a very entertaining evening. Music was good, drinks were strong, and I was surrounded by my lovely Seattle Posse. Thank god I found them.

Home again, yippy.....

2005-09-11T17:18:00.000-05:00

My plants have taken over the condo. It's crazy, but Vai's love seems to have caused them all to become enormous in the 9 days I was gone. They're crazy happy right now, I feel kinda bad that they're back under my care.
Look, I'm tan. Really, really tan. I haven't been tan like this since I was 12 years old spending a summer on the beach in Greece. Clare and I bought these gigantic hats in Hawaii and wore them faithfully all day long. I swear it had nothing to do with how fun it is to wear and enormous beach hat in the correct environment and everything to do with not wanting to burn our delicate flower like skin. Not that we're vain or anything, but at this point, doing all you can to stop the spiderweb like network of tiny wrinkles spiral into a cobweb of frightening proportions is worth $13 for a "Hawaii style hat made in China". Photos to come later.
Should have taken this one with my shirt lifted so you could compare my tanness with my glowing white, nearly nuclear belly. I stand out like a beacon in the night. I have to keep all swimsuit covered areas under cover while sleeping lest Shawn be kept up by the glow.

Ugh. Seattle's so damn lovely, I get misty just looking out my window. Beautiful fall has begun, and the air is still warm, but the breeze has that tinge of winter, that slight snap of cold that just whispers snow around the corner. Or at least some rain at this latitude. It's strange, but that first snowfall every year in Chicago always caused me to crystallize the moment I see it. I would remember it every time it happened. It seemed so damn magical when the first few flakes would begin to come down and it was such a definitive beginning of the next seasonal chapter. Almost makes me long for real winters again. Almost.
So, Mum, I guess I can safely pull out the new scarf and hat you sent me for my birthday. I think it's safe to guess the moths won't have a chance to nibble at the baby alpaca wool, and now I will be the best dressed, most luxurious winter gear wearer in Seattle. Who needs zillions of dollars to buy Prada when I have a blood relative willing to spend countless hours of their lives knitting such beautiful stuff. Can't wait for you to get here!

The great, tanned like a little brown nut larry returns

2005-09-10T13:38:00.000-05:00

This was my view from our little condo's porch in Kauai. I spent nine days on the beach. I'll post more later when I get the pics from Clare and Melissa. But I'm home, safe and sound, and am pleased that no one stepped on a strange, spikey sea creature. We did swim with a shark, though, and that was a little disturbing. More on that later.

Stick a fork in me, It's done

2005-08-29T03:53:00.000-05:00

See this? It's been the bane of my existence for about a month now. But tonight, it's gone. Why? Because it's the end of the Ring, baby!

Here we all are. 10 Stage Managers swimming in the Rheinmaiden pond. Oh, and an associate director 'cause we couldn't find Clare. This is the best team you'll ever see. What an amazing group of ladies plus one token boy. And oh, what a man he is. For the love of him, we all survived, and we're the better for it.
Mr. Mike, doesn't he look like my twin brother in this shot? He's such a classic man, and now he'll be dancing to Mamma Mia for the next eight months. He's the only single, straight male stage manager I know. And one of the best I've ever seen. Not to mention that he's the sole reason I'm back with Shawn. God I love that Mike. Rockstar. Smooch.
Prom. 2005. At Gotterdammerung. A Walkure and a Flyman.

A fire god, looking so pleased that he gets to go home to NYC in the morning. He's the director for the young artist show we'll do next year.

Oh, it's me and the king of the gods, Wotan. One of the best singers and humans I know, Mr. Grimsley. Not only is he a ridiculously talented singer and actor, he's also one of the easiest people to be with. His entire family make me smile and laugh. I want them to be in every show I do. Oh, and Mom, we'll get dinner with him in Portland- he's doing a Tosca there when you come out.
Mom, you remember Marie, right? She was in Carmen. You sewed Halloween costumes with her in the green room? She sends her love and wants to know why the hell you aren't here. Your stand against Wagner has to end. I mean, like NOW. It's good shit, really. Get with it, lady!
So, that's it. Summer of love, hate, and strange insecurities. Hope it will stick with me in a way that'll make me come back in '09.

For Meganie

2005-08-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

If trees could scream like people, would we be so quick to chop them down? I think so. Especially if they screamed all the time, for no reason

Hexe's in School!

2005-08-28T14:01:00.000-05:00

Meine kleine Hexe,
I'm so happy for you! Mommy got you into a school! A brand spankin' new one, at that. You get to sit in those little seats for the first time, and make all those newbie teachers know why teaching is the best profession ever. You'll be such a rockstar, and make us all so proud. You'll be smart, sassy, and thoroughly Kiss. Not only can you already read, write, and dance like nobody's business, you can sing like a little Callas in the making. Study hard, young grasshopper, and giggle your way through it because you're going to be the most amazing little woman our genes have ever created. If it ever gets bad, just climb onto the top of your desk, lift that gorgeous head of yours, and belt out, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm looking for my missing piece, looking for my missing piece." Enjoy it, Hex-

Final night at the Opera

2005-08-27T15:50:00.000-05:00

That's it. The Ring is done for me. There's still one performance of Gotterdammerung Sunday night, but my contract's up today. Last night was the final performance of Siegfried. Here's Robin, the associate director, saying goodbye to the bear, Steven.

Last show I'll call at Seattle for.......well, who really knows how long. It's been such a difficult year, as many of you gorgeous friends know. I had no idea what this year would bring, and I sure as hell didn't expect it to be so trying. So much so that my little lactose enzymes would go screaming into the night. Poor belly. But, as we all know, years like this are good. They're amazing for showing us what we're capable of and what rockstars we're slowly becoming.

God, they're so tired. Oh, so tired. Months and months of 8am-12pm everyday but one a week. I never thought I'd be so lucky to grow such affection for most of my fellow Seattle Opera worker bees, but I have never, in all my years in theatre, worked with a more amazing crew.

Fire! Yippy! Lots of it! Surrounding a sleeping ex-God. Wow. I finally get to do big shit.

And, that's it. All scenery getting stored again for four more years, and then it's back. I hope to hell I get to be back with it.

3rd Annual Schwanroast 2005

2005-08-26T11:08:00.000-05:00

Every year we do these gynormous Wagner things. Parsifal, Lohengrin, and now.......The Ring. Yes, it was as big as they say it was, but gosh darn it, what a thing to spend a summer doing. Dern thing was huge. So, we had the 3rd Annual B-Bque at Golden Gardens. It's really too bad that I'm always one of the first to get there. I can't light a fire to save my butt.

Madeleine and I were the first to arrive and we had to "save" a firepit by putting our wood on the bench in front of the pit we wanted. Much silliness ensued as the two of us gossiped for an hour looking off into this distance:

See, it's easy to get distracted. Plus, we were gobbling down sunchips and didn't even notice our little box of wood scavanged from her new house's yard had walked off right in front of our noses. We ran up to the pit, turned around and saw our sunchips getting torn apart by voracious seagulls. Holy crap. So, we left the chips to the birds and started marching around looking for our box of wood in an organic artichoke box. We found it, took it back from some frightening "toothless" men (as Maddy continually described them for the rest of the evening) and sat back down on our picnic tables. Where I promptly go shit upon by some seagulls that missed out on the sunchips feast. After screaming and laughing and wiping up of poop, we whipped out our cell phones declaring our shift over begging people to get their asses over here.
And come they did.

Slowly but surely our reinforcements arrived with goodies. Thank god for beer and the opener that lives in my little Mazda since Karen and I needed to open a bottle of wine somewhere off the interstate in Kansas.

Maddy loves our big sunglasses.

Grillmaster Rob brought his own.

And now, the fires can begin........

Is that not the most beautiful place to have a fire on the beach?

The fire was so nice, and then we made smores. I think it'd be kinda like camp, except I never went.

The stagemanagers got kinda loopy, but lord know we should have. It was such a long, hard summer, we deserved a night like this.

This is my Mom

2005-08-25T13:08:00.000-05:00

The Ring....ugh

2005-08-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

The Ring. Such an enormous undertaking. So long, so complicated. So tired..... But, there's a bit of fun in the midst of it all. Here's Anna, plugging away in the office at the theatre making light of the 16 hours of paperwork she's most likely in the middle of. She's an ASM, and a darn good one at that. There's Anna and ASM #5, Emma. Emma's the lovechild of Wotan and a Valkure. Not quite sure how that worked out in Wagner's strange plans, but since Wotan rides a vespa this summer, it seems all is a bit up in arms.

Look. We're so busy Maddy had to get a haircut at the theatre by the Hair and Makeup designer, Joyce. Maddy's another ASM, and, like Ms. Anna, ridiculously good at her job.

Here's Marta. She looks a little dazed. As do we all this summer. But dern it she's cute! Just about the best intern you could ever ask for. An smart. She speaks Chinese and spent the summer trying to learn the ring musical motifs on harmonica. There's nothing better than that.

Thank god for booze.
The Balducci brothers. One's an electrician, the other, a flyer of Rheinmaidens.

The head flyman, Jeff Mosher, is trying to lick my hair. I'm not quite sure what that's about, but I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I keep dancing during the opening of Rheingold while calling fly cues. It blocks his sight of my clocks so he can time his cues. Poor sucker. I'm sure he didn't think he'd have to deal with a dancing and singing stage manager. We're such freaks.

Leftovers

2005-08-25T12:24:00.000-05:00

So, this batch is actually from Sunday, 8/21.

Oh, actually, also from the night before. See, we went out to dinner with Clare's Mom and Dad who were in for her triathalon. We went out to dinner at a new Italian rest in the neighborhood. Got to sit outside while the sun went down over the Olympic Mountains. I still can't believe I actually live here. Clare had registered for the athletic even, so those are her numbers. She's so proud! I can't tell if her or her sister, Melissa, have bigger guns.
Here's me and Pam, Clare's daughter, showing our dinner to the camera.

Clare's somewhere in this huddle. Swimming is the first part of the triathalon. She had a goal of 1:45 for this mini race. Rockstar that she is, she finished in 1:31.

Oh, it's such a good Friday so far

2005-08-19T18:02:00.000-05:00

So I got off the phone, grabbed my keys and enormous purse and headed out to spend money I shouldn't. Started at Staples.

See, the new camera needed a nice, large memory stick so that I could take copious amounts of silly pictures like this one to illustrate my complete lack of technical language. There's a $30 difference between each of these otherwise identical memory cards. Why? I asked the nice man at the counter and he couldn't tell me. I then said, " is the only difference between memory cards the brand name if the GB are the same? You know, like TDK vs Memorex blank tapes?" He said, "well, like blank CDs now". I felt he was mocking me in some small way. Turd.
Moved on to grocery store.

It's about 5 miles from my neighborhood. It's in Ballard, and aptly named:

I spent way too much time trying to stop myself from buying all the vegetables that are good for me because they're not actually doing any good if you don't consume them. Simply sitting in the fridge gives your body really no nutritional value. So I got some apples, a musk melon, and some grapes to freeze. Yum.

See, it's getting so full. The strange brown tub is freshly ground almond butter. I'll never go peanut again. See, sadly, that's the whole reason to drive five miles to freakin' Ballard. Fresh almond butter.

This one is for you to prove that Jesus candles can be bought even in the whitest towns in America. And hey, they're only 99cents!

See, in the Pacific Northwest we do beer.

We do it very well, and with much weight. In fact
When my silly Chicago ass buys a beer at the bar in the middle of a HOT spell (for Seattle) I wisely choose a bud. That's what you do. You drink light, cheap beer. 'Cause it's too freakin' hot. My friend Mike rolls his eyes very dramatically and almost guffaws when I do it next to his very cool Mirror Pond beer. Here's the selection in your average grocery store. Yeah, it's great. I bought a local brew from he Pike Place Brewery here in town called Naughty Nellie.

I'm heading home at this point over the Ballard Bridge. There's all sorts of cool sculptures on it. See, 'cause we're a really artsy town. Better than your town since we put art on the fuckin' BRIDGES.

Turning the corner to my little place....oh! look! it's the space needle!

And now, dear, it's time to get some crap done. Dinner with Clare and the family tonight, then perhaps drinks with the goths.