Meh...Updated!

Long day today. I'm feeling pretty beat down and discouraged. The audition went...okay, I guess. They didn't give me a callback, but their rejection phone call was very polite and friendly, and at least they let me know right away. I spent last night and today doing "Play in a Day" which is a lot like an Odyssey problem squished into 9 hours. It was a lot of time to spend with 5 ten-year-old girls. Lots of squealing and hair twirling. There's lots of laundry to be folded, and the cupboards are looking mighty bare again, with no paychecks coming in in the immediate future. Off to bed now. To sleep...perchance to dream...maybe I'll dream about a way out.

Update:
Bedlam breaks out at NYC 'Top Model' auditions
March 14, 2009, 7:35 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- Three people were arrested and six others hurt Saturday after bedlam broke out while they waited to audition for "America's Next Top Model," police said.
Police didn't know what prompted the chaos involving hundreds of people outside the Park Central New York hotel in Manhattan.

I'm guessing...hunger.

Rolling with the punches

Could this be more generic???

"I regret to inform you that the Department of Theatre Studies did not approve your application for admission to Brown University’s Graduate School for the 2009-2010 academic year. Admission decisions are made on a comparative basis and are the result of a careful evaluation of each candidate's application, taking into account academic achievement, preparation for advanced study, and other supporting materials.

The majority of those who apply to the Graduate School have strong qualifications and demonstrate an ability to do advanced academic work. We regret that we have to disappoint many bright and talented students.

Thank you for your interest in Brown. I wish you the best in your academic endeavors."

Not a surprise, but now it's official. For the directing program, at least.

Whatevs.

Class

I started teaching a class today for Saltworks. It will be every Thursday for 9 weeks, from 4:30 - 7:00pm. I have 9 girls, ages 14 - 18. We're going to work on A Lion In Winter (one of my favorite Katherine Hepburn movies - she's amazing in it.) It's about Henry II, Eleanor of Aquataine, and their sons Richard (to become "the Lionhearted"), Geoffrey, and John (of Evil Prince John fame in the Robin Hood movies) They're quite a family, and it's quite a script. If I ever got into grad school and had to write a thesus type thing, I'd be interested in pursuing these Plantagenets. Other plays they appear in are Murder in the Cathedral, Becket, Henry IV, V, and VI (Shakespeare), and several others. Class went well, and the girls are resigned if not excited about playing men. They're part of the Saltworks "Young Company", which means they've been around awhile and taken a lot of classes, and are used to playing men. In fact, last summer, I had some of them in my Antigone class and one of they played King Creon.
It feels good to get my teaching chops working again.
I also have an audition this weekend for a Pgh Theater company's summer season. They're auditioning Equity actors too, so I don't expect much, but at least I'm getting my butt out there again. I've been hibernating since NY, as far as the acting thing goes.

Small graces, part 7

Hm. Seems I missed yesterday. Weird. I thought I wrote something, but I must have just imagined it!
It also seems that since I made the declaration that I would try to be more grateful for the little things in everyday life that more and more aggravating things have started to happen. Nothing super huge, just little niggling annoyances that make it harder to see the good. But here goes!

1. More buds coming up through the ground - Cinderella's lilac bush is frosted in green.
2. I found three Madeleine L'Engle books at Half Priced books today that I didn't have. Two poetry books and a very early novel. And they were only $3.00 each!
3. I've picked up some more work in the past couple of days - more days at Pitt and another weekend of classes.
4. I think I found a babysitter for Friday afternoon, if she doesn't back out.
5. I'm having Scooby teach me violin on his quarter-sized little one. I can play Ode to Joy almost recognizably. I think Scooby and I are about the same level right now.

Missing everyone out there...write something in your blogs! I'm lonely!

Some Odyssey pictures

David and his friend - what is it about the blondes???
Setting up during the performance - you can see the anchor sign, barrel, and mast, all created by David, if you look really closely!

Notice the two-headed Pirate Germ in the back

Team Dunlap

David - the old sea captain

Sixth place. Sigh. Frankly, I think they were robbed. But, they're taking it well. Better than me, I think! Somehow, I don't seem to have a picture of the watermelon costume that scarred my finger. I'll try to find one and post it when I get it.

Small graces, part 6

1. Lots of sleep this morning - the kids were quiet and we skipped church.
2. Quality Lego time with the boys - they built, I watched.
3. Granny coming over to spend time with the kids and bake cookies while we cleaned the office.
4. Did I mention they baked cookies?
5. A whole weekend of warm weather and only a little bit of rain.

OM

Well, they came in 6th, so no states this year. They did really well, and I was very proud of them. We're disappointed, but at least we'll have more evenings free now!
REALLY tired, so no more posting for now.

small graces, part 5

1 - 5:
By this time tomorrow, the Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament will be over!

Just Yale if you need me

So, I got my official rejection letter from Yale today. I'm not broken up about it, because it was pretty obvious they weren't going to accept me when they booted me after one round of auditions. I was going to try to write some kind of funny entry about "what Yale wrote" and "what Yale was really saying" but when I went to pull the letter out of the trash to copy what they wrote, I discovered Don had already emptied the can and I'm not digging through leftover peanut butter and coffee grounds to find it. So basically, what Yale wrote is many are called, few are chosen. And you ain't one of 'em. Eh.

Today's graces:
1. Warmth! Sunshine! Warmth!
2. Got all the copies I needed done for free.
3. Found the green facepaint I needed locally - saved me a 20 minute drive.
4. Kids did so well at Beauty and the Beast rehearsal I let them go 1/2 an hour early.
5. Coriciden is a great cold medicine.

Night all!

Oh yeah, my blog.

I was on my way to bed (nice talking to you, Lisa!) when I realized I hadn't written anything yet today. Slightly better day today. Yesterday was a lot of things - PMS, getting a cold, hearing too much bad news in a short amount of time, jumping through Medicare benefit renewal hoops. The thing that tipped me over the edge, though, was an email from one of the school's I've been accepted at, which will remain nameless due to potential dangerous Googling, (right Steve?) but if you've following along it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which one. Anyway, I've been trying to get some questions answered for awhile now about the program and financial aid stuff, but have experience really BAD communication skills from this department. Finally yesterday I sent another respectful email requesting the answers to the same questions I'd been asking. I got one back saying that they thought I'd declined admission, so that was my status in their computers. Oh, and there's no money available for first years anyway. Oh, and this person's going to a conference for two weeks, so I can contact her again then if I want to change the status in my file. I firmly but respectfully replied that I had NOT declined admission, and forwarded the chain of emails stating that very thing, and that this person had replied to herself, saying to just let them know when I'd made a decision. I immediately got back one of those automated "out-of-the-office" replies. Tells me something about the organization of the school and the difficulty I might have ever trying to get anything done through the administration. So as of now, the two schools that have accepted me are two that I didn't have to audition for, and that I very well may not want to go to. (Savannah's a whole nother story...I'll get into it later, maybe.)
So, still waiting.

Bad day

Grateful for God's faithfulness.
The end.

Small graces, part 4

1. Going back to bed after Don went to work. Shh - don't tell him!
2. Getting enough done around the house when I finally got up again to make it look like I didn't spend the morning in bed.
3. Getting the gift package from Mom and Dad's cruise - I love my hat and earrings, the kids love their banks and "water globe" (NOT a snow globe, Mommy) and Don loves his little tiny cup. (That's what Cinderella called it...I think it's going to stick!)
4. Finding out that another Odyssey team is actually scheduled earlier than us - at 7:42! This gives me strange joy.
5. Being able to read and giggle at some very funny postings on Facebook by friends. I like having funny friends.

Quick update

Sad news today. Some friends lost a baby at 8 1/2 months of the pregnancy. Everything was normal at the checkup one week previous, then yesterday they couldn't find a heartbeat. They did an emergency C-section and the baby was stillborn. They figure the placenta detached somehow. I can't even imagine what they're going through.
Crazy week ahead, getting ready for the Odyssey tournament on Sat. We also have parent conferences on Friday - I think I put the fear of God in Cinderella today when I told her that. She's been having some discipline issues at school - too busy socializing with her BFFs to listen to the teacher!
I was so proud of myself tonight - I figured out how to burn a CD after converting a video from youtube into an mp3, and then decompressing it. And yes, I'm sure there IS an easier way, but that's not the point! I did it all by myself!
The calendar says it will be spring soon, but it sure isn't looking like it on the East coast.

Small things, part 3

1. Good mystery show tonight - good audience, nice feedback.
2. Good Odyssey meeting this afternoon - no injuries, everyone there, got a lot done.
3. Good haircuts for the kiddos this morning. Cinderella's is up to her shoulders - she's been begging to get it cut, and loves it!
4. No mail today, for some reason. And yes, I've decided to count that as a blessing.
5. Scooby and I are now reading "The Black Cauldren." I LOVE sharing my favorite books with my kids!

Late things

Late post tonight - I went out for a "work" meeting at a beer joint. We were supposed to be working on paperwork for Odyssey, but it just turned into a bitch session. With beer. The most fun meeting I've been to yet!
So, no list today. I'm tired. Although probably not as tired as Steve, who seems to be treating the whole Vegas experience as one long sleep-deprivation experiment. I got off the phone with him today and Scooby asked me, "So WHO's torturing Uncle Steve?" Hard to explain, really.
Scooby had mandatory baseball "tryouts" tonight, so the coaches could "draft" their teams. Pretty painful. He wasn't very happy afterwards. This will be the make or break year for baseball, I think.
Tarzan's reading, and greatly enjoying, the "Captain Underpants" books. I managed to steer Scooby away from them, but no such luck with Mr. Independence! He decided to strip down yesterday and BE Captain Underpants for awhile. Of course, he's been doing that for awhile...

Grace, part 2

1. I received an acceptance into Savannah College of Art and Design's MFA in Performing Arts program. Not sure if I want to go there, but it's nice to be wanted.
2. My house has been very peaceful and quiet today. It's nice.
3. An article Scooby co-wrote was published in the local paper today. He'll be thrilled!
4. Tarzan has a playdate today. He's already thrilled.
5. After tonight, all the songs for Beauty and the Beast will be choreographed - now we just have to review them. Over and over again.

Grace in small things

1. The sun is shining, and I actually had to switch the settings in my car from heat to vent.
2. I cashed my teensy tiny paycheck and it was enough to cover a week's worth of groceries.
3. All three kids, although somewhat coughy and sneezy are well enough to go to school.
4. Scooby brought home three tests last week, all with a score of 100%
5. My finger, although itchy and ugly, is healing quickly

As today is the first day of Lent, I'm going to attempt to write something in this blog every day, even if it's "only" a list of things to be grateful for. I'm going to attempt to focus on the positive, and reignite my awarenesss of the blessings in my life.

Not to say that there won't still be days of venting and complaining.

But I'm going to try, in this season of reflection, to be more present, more transparent, and more grateful.

We'll see how it goes.

Blug.

Tarzan has a new post on his blog. Click the link on the left...

Turns out, pretty darn low

How low can you go?
How low can you go?
How
Low
Can
You
Go.......

Limbo, con't

Who thought up these lyrics?????

Get you super, Limbo Girl!
Give they check to Limbo World!
There’s a Limbo Moon above,
You will fall in Limbo love!
Jack, be Limbo! Jack, be quick!
Jack, go under Limbo stick!
All around the Limbo Club!
Hey, let’s do the Limbo Rock!
Ahahahou!

Limbo

I feel like I'm in a state of limbo, waiting for these schools to get back to me. For the past three weeks, I've been in a place of having done everything that I can do to expedite the process, and am merely waiting for the judgement to fall.

Limbo
1.
(often initial capital letter) Roman Catholic Theology. a region on the border of hell or heaven, serving as the abode after death of unbaptized infants (limbo of infants) and of the righteous who died before the coming of Christ (limbo of the fathers or limbo of the patriarchs).
2.
a place or state of oblivion to which persons or things are regarded as being relegated when cast aside, forgotten, past, or out of date: My youthful hopes are in the limbo of lost dreams.
3.
an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place.
4.
a place or state of imprisonment or confinement.

5.
a dance from the West Indies, originally for men only, in which the dancer bends backward from the knees and moves with a shuffling step under a horizontal bar that is lowered after each successive pass.

Out of the above definitions, the one that I was thinking of when I thought "limbo" was number 3, a transitional or midway state. Neither here, nor there. Incapable of making future plans, or investing in present circumstances. However, upon reflection, number 4 also seems to fit. Also, number 5. Bending backwards, shuffling, as the bar is lowered.

Ouch.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

See, there was this hunk of heavy styrofoam that was roughly shaped like a half of a watermelon, and they needed a watermelon costume, so how perfect is that? But it was heavy, and kind of too big, so we were going to cut it in half, length-wise. So we tried a hand saw, and yeah, that was working, but they're only fourth graders and not very strong, so it took about 20 minutes to cut down a quarter of an inch, and we had about 2 feet to go. So then we tried hedge clippers, but they didn't do anything. So I got out the small chainsaw that we have for tree limbs. I figured, other parents let their kids use power tools, under supervision. We were really careful, and I showed them how to turn it on and off, and had everyone else stand way back, but SOMEONE had to hold the styrofoam steady, and a kid sure couldn't do it, and...

Anyway, no one else got hurt, the styrofoam got cut, and it makes quite a nice watermelon. In retrospect, we probably should have found another way, but it DID work. And my finger will heal.

Warning...graphic picture below.

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Happy President's Day

Mine will be spent much as my Valentine's Day was...in full Mommy mode. V-Day, I took Scooby to a "Spontaneous Fun Day" at his school - to practice sponteous problems for Odyssey of the Mind. I know, it's an oxymoron. And they still haven't learned to build tall towers out of random materials. No structural engineers in this group. Then, I took Cinderella to buy a birthday present for her friend and dropped her off at the party. Then we picked her up and went to the library to renew Scooby's Battle of the Books reading selection. Hm...it's kind of a blur after that. Today, I have Beauty and the Beast rehearsal and then a LONG Odyssey meeting where we be exploring the comparative merits of liquid nails, hot glue, and sewing. I'm tired already, just thinking about it. I spent all night dreaming about subway card machines that wouldn't give me change and leaving baby strollers in the middle of the street. A tribute, I think, to both Steve and Melissa. It shows you're on my mind!

Holes

This is what the hole in our bedroom floor looked like.

For about 8 months now, we've noticed a significant dip in the floor (underneath the carpet) in our bedroom, right in the middle of the room. It was very hard to avoid. It was also, I noticed one day when I was downstairs, directly above the chandelier in the dining room. (Or what we call "the blue room" since we don't have any dining room furniture in it.) It appeared rather suddenly, and the kids, despite being threatened with a river dunking, enjoyed jumping into it. I had great trepidation about this hole, and even had dreams about it being filled with swarming termites chewing their way through our house. We didn't quite know how to go about exploring the problem, however, as we have wall-to-wall Berber (sp?) carpeting, and a very small bedroom crammed full of heavy furniture. Finally, Don sweet-talked a carpet-laying friend of his to come over and take a look. This meant the day before I had to clear off my dresser (no mean feat), carry all the drawers into the boy's room, take all the storage boxes from under the bed into the boy's room, strip the bed and put the blankets and comforter in the boy's room, put the end-of-the-bed bench into the boy's room, and hope like hell they wouldn't have to move my huge shelving unit, since I had loaded it up with everything from off the dresser. That morning, Don and I moved the mattresses into the boy's room, disassembled the bed, pulled the dresser into the hall...no wonder my back still hurts! So anyway, the guy came and pulled back the carpet, and it was no big deal. A small support piece had come off (the nail bent) and two pieces of the hardwood had dropped down. Nail the support back on, replace the boards, problem solved. Then, the best part, the guy fixed the carpet - by "kicking" it back into place. I don't know how many of you have ever seen a carpet being "kicked" but MAN, does it look painful. There's this tool that stretches the carpet flat, then you jam the end of it with your knee and it pushes the carpet under the baseboards. He did both walls in about 5 minutes. It was really something to see. So for the rest of the day I vacuumed places that haven't seen the light of day in 5 years, washed sheets and blankets, and put the room back together. Not a bad day's work.

GroundHog Day

Stupid groundhog.

Anyway, here's a recap of my trip to NY. Here's what I know for sure now, that I didn't before I left. I'm not going to Yale. I'm not going to any of the other schools that I didn't specifically apply to (the ones that showed up for the URTAs). New York actually can be fun to visit. Especially when you can stay for free with your brother and he buys you all your meals.

I flew out on Saturday in a tiny little plane that made me slightly airsick during landing. We had a powerful tailwind and arrived 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Not bad for a flight that should have taken an hour and a half! I took a cab from LaGuardia to the corner of 87th and 3rd, then stood outside in a freezing gale for what seemed like 20 minutes waiting for Steve. (It was probably about 3 minutes, but it was really cold!) We settled in to his apartment and he promptly got me hooked on past episodes of "LOST", a show I swore I'd never watch, since it seemed such a pain to understand. And yes, it is, but I also enjoyed it a lot. After feeling like a slug for awhile, I dragged Steve outside to show me his neighborhood.

We walked up to a little park along the East River, had a nice chat, and took a short subway hop home. We ordered pizza and watched more "LOST."

On Sunday, I took the Metro-North railroad from Grand Central up to New Haven. I decided to walk from Union Station to the Yale campus, which went fine after only one short stint of walking the wrong way for about 6 blocks. I found the campus and called my friend Cassie, arranging to meet up after the audition. I was still a couple of hours early, so I found a nice vegetarian place for lunch and had some hummus, falafel, tabouli, and baba ganoush. I think I mostly spelled those right. And no, I still don't know what baba ganoush is, but the falafel was really delicious. So then I had my Yale audition. There were 16 of us assigned to the 2:00 hour. We met with the auditioners (two of the heads of the MFA drama program) to hear that they were really very nice people, and if we don't make it don't take it personally, and yadda yadda. The same speech I was to hear about six times over the course of the week. We then went in one at a time and did our two contrasting monologues in four minutes or less, and then waited for the end of the hour callbacks to be posted. Then there were to be end of the day callbacks, and then another round of callbacks at the end of February. I have two friends who auditioned for the Directing program in past years, and both were called back several times, and both ended up not being accepted into the program. So I decided that if they weren't going to accept me, I'd rather know right away rather than being put through the suspense. So, they obliged me by not even asking me to the end of the hour callbacks. And, although I was of course disappointed not to even make it past the first round, I was glad that the decision came sooner rather than later, and I can definitely cross Yale off the maybe list. If only I could get my $100 application fee back.

Anyway, next I met up with Cassie and we went out for a bite to eat.

Except the place we went to wasn't serving food at that hour (it was about 4:00 and they didn't start dinner service until 5:00), so we had tea until 5:00 and then ordered dinner. I went to CMU with Cassie and we survived the Directing program together. We were even roomates for a year and loved each other, and fought a lot, and argued over housekeeping roles, and learned a tremendous amount from each other. She's almost intimidatingly intelligent and insightful, and has a way of making clarifying statements about life situations that make you reconsider all your previous assumptions and strive to dig a little deeper into yourself. She's also warm, thoughtful, and embracing. I find her incredibly challenging, stimulating, and encouraging to be around, and can't imagine how I've gone for so long without her presence in my life. So after our dinner, I took the train back to Grand Central, and the subway back to Steve's apartment, and watched some more "LOST" until passing out.

Monday I had the audition for Brown. I applied to both the acting and directing programs, and so had separate auditions and interviews for each. I met with the head of the MFA Directing program first, and I think it went okay, except I didn't have any "supporting materials" with me and I think she expected me to. Things such as photos from shows, press clippings, director's notes, etc. First of all, I don't have many of those, and secondly, I didn't really want to lug them to New York for one interview. It said such material was welcome, but not necessary. So anyway, we talked about the program, and what my vision of theater is, and what hers is, and a lot about motherhood (she has two children, ages three and five.) I think we hit it off personally, but I don't think I impressed her professionally. They only accept two people into the directing program. Next I auditioned for the heads of the MFA Acting program, and did my two contrasting monologues in under three minutes, and chatted with them for a bit. They were very nice, and seemed to like the audition. Two hours later there was an orientation meeting where they explained about the program. They are big into collaboration and the making of the "whole theater artist", so I think it's a plus that I applied to both programs. I REALLY liked the sound of the program, and would love to be accepted there. That said, I'm trying to remain expectation free. I should hear from them one way or the other by the end of February.

After I was done there, I walked around a little by Central Park, spent some time in FAO Schwartz, and window shopped on Madison Ave. Then Steve and Sue and I went out to dinner at a nice French place where I had scallops and leeks, and a really nice wine.

Tuesday was the Screening audition for the URTAs. There were about 75 people there for the orientation meeting, and we each auditioned for two judges (two contrasting monologues in under 3 minutes) who determined whether or not you were worthy to be seen by the actual representatives from the 30 or so schools that attend. I ran into someone from the murder mysteries that I've worked with, and it was nice to see a familiar face! I was, again, one of the oldest people in the room. That was a theme for the whole week, by the way. 99 percent of the women seemed to be right out of undergrad school. The men had a few older looking representatives, but most were still in their twenties. At the screening audition, I saw one women who looked slightly older than me, and one man who was a lot older. He warmed up by doing Tai Chi in the middle of the room. The orientation was at 8:30 and my audition was at 11:30. Then we had to come back tor the results at 5:00. After my audition, I went back to Steve's and fell asleep. I'd had every intention of getting some packing done for him, but I guess I was tired! So I went back at 5:00 to get my results and was very happy to see I'd been passed on to the final auditions! (The guy I knew from Pittsburgh was not.) That was a good night.

Then Steve and I and his friend Lauren went to a barbecue place for dinner, and then met up with Sue for dessert at a German place, where she was hit on by a very drunk guy at the bar. He liked her glasses. And her stylllle. We had chocolate fondue. Yummy!

Wednesday was another 8:30 call for orientation for the Final URTA auditions. Mine was at 9:52, and the results would be in at three. I had coffee at Starbucks with a nice girl from New Haven named Iris (whose first choice school is Yale). She was one of the "older" women - 25. It was slushy and rainy on Wednesday, and NOT very fun to try to walk around, but I decided to stick it out, and walked over to the Museum of Modern Art for awhile. And I decided, yeah, I really still don't like most modern art. But it was cool to see the actual Andy Warhols:

and Jackson Pollocks:

and Van Goghs:

So I went back for the results at 3:00, and received a disappointment. The schools that are interested in you schedule an interview that day at the hotel. So you don't know until your receive your results whether you'll be seeing no one, or a whole slew of people keeping you there until late in the evening. It is for these interviews that you are supposed to bring 10 copies of your headshot, resume, and school transcript. I received one request for an interview, from the University of Wisconsin. And there were two other people there with me. I think they called back everyone, in order to try to recruit people to their school, because, let's face it, it's in Wisconsin. So that was disappointing. Not that there were any schools there that I was dying to go to, but there were several I was at least interested in, and if anyone was going to do the turning down, I wanted it to be me!

That night, I went back to Steve's and DID do some packing, ordered pizza again, and watched more "LOST". I flew out Thursday morning and got home without incident.

Overall, it was a good trip. I enjoyed the sights of New York

and travelled around without any problems whatsoever (which I had been worried about.) I felt I auditioned well each time. I was confident, prepared, did my monologues well, and received good feedback overall. I did everything right, that I had any control over. I was somewhat disappointed in the return on that investment, but again, those are things I have no control over. I sort of wish I had been at this place 10 years ago, but I wasn't. I didn't want this 10 years ago, I wanted my babies. And I have them, and they're amazing.

So whatever works out, I'm along for the ride. I should know within about six weeks what all the schools I actually applied to decide, and I'll go from there.

Onwards!

Oh, yes.

There will be more, soon. But this, snapped during my visit to the Museum of Modern Art, pretty well sums up my trip.

The glamorous life

Not much exciting going on here...just trying to run down the list of errands before I leave tomorrow. Return library books, print out itinerary for Don of my activities and the kid's activities. Double check babysitting arrangements and rides to activities for kids. Get copies of headshots made(a pain in the butt, but too boring to elaborate on). Mail some long overdue forms. Try to burn into my brain where I have to be and when and what form of public transit I'm taking to get there. I have phone numbers of two friends from college, one in NY and one in CT that I'm going to try to connect with while I'm gone, I hope that works out. Clean the fish tank. Pick up Scooby's new glasses. Organize my clothes. Go to the bank. Exciting!!!
Today I'm packing and cleaning the dentist office, getting a travel book from the library, and making another trip to the post office. My flight is tomorrow at 11:30! Pray for me - or at least do what they say in England...hold your thumbs for me!

Brr

I suppose it will sound redundant to most of the country to admit that it's cold here. Freezing. Quite a bit below freezing, actually. Like minus 2 degrees. Now, I know in Norwood, that's backyard barbeque weather, but here it's kind of a shock to the system. Thankfully, our furnace works, the car has been starting and the heater for the one remaining fish in the tank hasn't conked out. Despite these blessings, however, it's pretty freaking miserable. The kids' hands and lips are all chapped, the cat is incredibly cranky, and I'm about ready to sign up with any school south of the border. Winter sucks.
Don is away for the weekend on a guy's camping trip with 5 of his friends. Fortunately, it's wussy camping, in a heated cabin with cigars and beer. Hopefully he'll have fun. His Christmas vacation was kind of defeated by the coughing and hacking. Then next week, I'm off to NYC for my auditions!
Can I mention briefly how freaked out I am? I was totally planning on losing 20 pounds by this time, and getting in a couple more monologue coaching sessions. Oh well. Stress-eating demolished the 20 pound plan, and financial woes nixed the coaching sessions. I'm trying to just view it as a fun trip to visit Steve, (and help him pack...) with a side of a few insignificant auditions along the way. Que sera sera.
On the home front, Cinderella's front teeth are coming in nicely, Tarzan's been bumped up another reading group level at school, and Scooby's considering entering a Shakespeare monologue and scene contest. (He's not being influenced in that decision at all. Ha ha.)
Time for a possett and a hot water bottle.

She lost the tooth!

All it took was an (accidental) elbowing from her older brother.

Movies Becki will not be seeing in 2009

I have stolen, um, I mean, borrowed the following entry from my friend Becki. Actually I asked her permission first, so it's not really stealing at all. Read it and see why she is my friend. I like to surround myself with funny people!


Movies I Will Not Be Seeing in 2009

Well, here we are, on the cusp of a new year, and you know what that means! That’s right! The media telling us what we’re going to like for the next twelve months! Following my perusal of several “must see” movie-lists, I’ve come up with my own “must not see” list.
After all, a girl’s got to stand up to the man.


1. My Bloody Valentine, 3D. If you have ever had the good fortune to spend more than 30 seconds with me, you know that I am a huge chicken. The line between “fear” and “fun” is very thick, well defined, and guarded with electric fence.
And barbed wire.
And gnomes, with guns.
I have never been able to comprehend the phrase “It’s not scary! It’s FUNNY!” How can you possibly get those two things confused?! “It’s not scary, it’s ALLEGORY!”, okay. “It’s not scary, it’s a DOCUMENTARY.” Sure. I’ll even go so far as “It’s not scary, it’s a METAPHOR FOR THE ROLE CULTURAL RELATIVISM PLAYS IN THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF CIVILIZATION.” But funny?! No.
I could spend all day complaining about why horror movies are not entertainment, but I know that some of you make your living as the voice of serial killer Vic Towbridge in “Exit Speed” (out on DVD now!). So I’ll just sum it up and say that just thinking about a horror movie in 3D makes me want to curl into the fetal position, and I can do that for free in my own home, thank you very much.

2. Fast and Furious. Am I delirious, or was this movie already made? Let me check the ol’ IMDB.com….hmmmm….yes. Yes, it was, only it had a few “ands” and “thes” that are now absent from this brilliantly concise title.
I have a few questions about this whole franchise. If you can answer them, please. Enlighten me. First of all, I would like to know who is seeing these movies. Single men? Frustrated married men? Single women trolling for lonely single men? Mechanics? Vin Diesel’s mother? Whoever they are, they must be stopped. Next, I would like to know if Vin Diesel’s last name had anything to do with his acquisition of this Role Of A Lifetime. I mean, it’s a car movie. And his last name’s Diesel. That would be like David Spade being in that “Holes” movie from a few years back.
You with me? Anyone laugh at that? No? Okay, moving on.

3. The Pink Panther 2. Let me just clear this up: I love Steve Martin. Love him. With the intensity of a thousand suns. And I also love stupid comedy. I mean, come on. I’m a Toth. It’s in our genetic makeup. But this…this is asking too much.
Steve Martin and a cast of commendable actors who clearly owe Steve Martin huge favors (perhaps he donated organs to their children?) run around and solve crime. Whatev. But you know what really gets me? Steve Martin’s girlfriend in this movie (Emily Mortimer) is, in real life, 26 years younger than him. Let the record show that if I was dating someone who was 26 years younger than me, I’d be escorting a 3rd grader on his field trip to Old Economy.
Twenty six years. Sheesh. Where I come from, that’s two generations.

4. Bride Wars. This really isn’t fair. I wouldn’t see this no matter who was starring in it, but the fact that it’s starring Anne Hathaway (who reminds me of a brunette Ronald McDonald) pushes this over the precipitous edge. I get it, I get it. Girls who are getting married morph into Mothra, and will eat your face off if you catch them on a bad day.
To be honest, I’m not a fan of the romantic comedy in general (with a small number of notable exceptions), and one could probably make a compelling case about my distaste for rom-coms and my general cynicism toward all things mushy being in direct proportion. But honestly? Are we doing women any favors with movies like this? Do men really need one more reason to think we’re cranky, overly emotional, and irrational? Or am I just thinking too much?

5. Land of the Lost. Oh. Em. Gee. People, only one thing terrified me more as a child than the army of Oompa Loompas in "Willy Wonka", and that is the Saturday morning television program, "Land of the Lost". A little history for you Becki-Buffs--Saturday mornings in my house were piano lessons for my mom. My siblings and I were permitted in the TV room ONLY during this time--apparently, we were "loud", "distracting", and "incredibly annoying". Anyway, once my siblings latched onto the fact that I hated this show, I was forced to watch it every freaking week. All channel changes must be democratically decided, of course, and I was outvoted 2-1 every time.
As some of you know, I have a paralyzing fear of dinosaurs. I had to leave "Jurassic Park" because I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I blame this show--even with it's lousy special effects, it did the trick and scared the crap outta me.
I read an interview with Will Farrell yesterday (he is starring in this movie, along with a bunch of people I've never heard of) in which he makes this comment:
"We thought it was better served if it errs more on the side of 'Jurassic Park' in terms of realism, and the dinosaurs are just scary as s---, and the comedy plays off of that. You're not going to see the zipper up the back of the Sleestaks' costumes."
Are you kidding me with this? I'd have to be hospitalized. No thanks.

And that, folks, ends not only our list of "Movies I Will Not Be Seeing In 2009", but also a sublist:
"Reasons Why Becki Will Die Alone In A Trailer Full Of Cats". Thanks for joining us.

Happy 2009!

Yes, it's January, 2009 and I can no longer procrastinate looking at the ever so scary "financial aid" portion of the college application process. The new FAFSA (federal student loan application) is available and at least one of the schools needs it completed by tomorrow. Of course, the information on the FAFSA is dependent on your 2008 tax return, which I cannot yet complete since I've only received one of the forms out of the 5 DIFFERENT ONES I need, and the one that Don needs in order to complete it. So I spent about two hours today trying to fudge my way through completing a tax form so I could at least get some estimated numbers to put into the other form. In the meantime, the other form timed out and I can't currently retrieve it. Which is probably okay, because I have to go pick up the boys in 15 minutes so I can drag all three kids to a production meeting for Beauty and the Beast. Then we'll return home, I'll fix dinner, nag them to do their homework, do baths, and try to get them to bed so I can finish the freaking form in time to watch the new episode of Grey's Anatomy. On the plus side, I'm way ahead in terms of completing our taxes.
I'll write more about the holidays at another time, when I'm not so crabby. They truly were wonderful, despite the bronchitis.

ps: 8:45pm There. It's done. Stupid forms.

Merry Merry!

Tonight we had Christmas at the Dunlaps - and much merriment ensued. Also some angst, a few tears, a toothache and far too much consumption of sweets. All in all, a good party. We did our annual White Elephant gift exchange - and Scooby ended up choosing one of the gifts I'd brought, much to his chagrin and everyone else's amusement. Tarzan got a 2 foot bottle of vinegar and peppers shaped like the Eiffel Tower, and a birdhouse kit. Cinderella was my designated helper, and she picked out a bag for holding stuff in the car - quite a sophisticated choice, if I do say so myself.
Tomorrow we pack feverishly while the kids enjoy their school Christmas parties, and then head off to Mass. - all in one go if the DVD player and weather both cooperate. I don't anticipate much posting while we're gone, since most of the people who read this will be in Mass. with me, so while we're away, let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a better 2009 than 2008 turned out to be, and a few moments of peace amongst the parties.

Acceptance Number One

VCU in Richmond sent me an acceptance letter today! Yay!
But I won't find out about other schools until March....hm.

Betty

This is my god-daughter, Amanda. The last time I saw her was 5 or 6 years ago, when I think she was just starting high school. She told me she was changing her name to Betty. I guess she meant it! I found her recently on Facebook. This is a self-portrait she took recently. Although she looks nothing like her mother, who was my best friend in high school, the sadness on her face reminds me of her.

In addition:
I posted this really quickly this morning, and I forgot to say that I LOVE this picture. I think it's beautiful, and I plan on printing it and hanging it up somewhere. Nice job, Betty!

Recording my immediate first impressions - one week later

Yeah, so I took this little side trip after Thanksgiving down to Virginia to visit two of the grad schools that I applied to, Virginia Commonwealth University (hereafter to be referred to as VCU) and Regent University. As I was driving back, I kept thinking, "I must record my impressions right away, so I don't forget and all that valuable gut feeling stuff won't be lost!" (That, and "Boy, I'm really glad we have this satellite radio so I can listen to three straight days of NPR!") So then life happened, and here we are a week later, which isn't exactly immediately, but still isn't too terrible in the scheme of things.
I went to VCU first, as Richmond is closer to DC than Virginia Beach is, so it made a kind of logical sense. And I have to say, I was quite pleasantly surprised by Richmond. I was expecting a big, dirty city and at least the part that I was in was quite quaint and pleasant. The campus area is much like the University of Pittsburgh, with campus buildings interspersed among townhouses, apartment buildings, cafes, and small storefronts. It's a pretty, pleasant area to walk, and the parking garage only cost $5.00 for the whole day. And students are only $3.50! (At Pitt, it's more like $5.00 per hour)The arts building is medium sized, and a little shabby, which is what I've come to expect from arts buildings in general - they get a lot more hard use than lecture rooms. The people were very nice, very helpful, willing to answer all my questions. They did not audition me, although the website called it an interview/audition, and apparently the reason they did not is because there really isn't any performance quotient to the program. It's a theater pedagogy program, and it focuses pretty exclusively on teaching. In fact, many of the grad students TA the first semester and have their own classes by the second. The pro side of that is, it's great experience, and it looks great on your resume. They are very focused on post-school preparation - helping you build up your resume, write a good CV, publish articles, etc. The con side is, I'm not sure how much I'd actually LEARN, besides what I already know, about different aspects of theater. Granted, I have a good background, but there's still a lot I don't know, and part of the reason I want to go back to school is to fill in some of the gaps. Financial aid seems pretty random and kind of "do it yourself". You have to scramble for assistantships, on campus work, etc. and don't find out until very last minute what aid you've received, if any. The curriculum is quite loosely structured, allowing a lot of flexibility in designing your own program. The cost of living in Richmond seems to be even lower than Pittsburgh, although finding a good school district in an area we can afford to live in will be a challenge.
The next day I went on to Virginia Beach. (After an overnight stay in Williamsburg with my first best friend, Laura. We had a great time reminiscing about what dorks we were as kids!) My first impressions of Regent weren't all that great, but for kind of strange reasons. The campus is pretty small, and very self contained. It's set off the main drag and it really feels like you're entering your own little world when you go into it. The buildings and grounds are all beautiful and perfectly maintained. There was a swan pond, complete with swan, and a pasture with several lovely horses. There were, however, hardly any people walking around on the campus, and it had almost a Camazotz feeling to it. (Referencing "A Wrinkle in Time" - the planet where everyone is exactly the same, because they are all part of the great MIND of IT") However, it was right after Thanksgiving break, and it was COLD. So I'm assuming the people were all inside. Once I got over the strangeness of how nice everything was, I began to enjoy and appreciate it. The Arts building is HUGE and lovely - marble tiles, crystal chandeliers, hand-painted Chinese silk tapestries. Again, the people were very charming and helpful. I did have an audition, and I think it went very well. I wasn't nervous, and I did good work, so regardless of the outcome, I feel good about that part. The program is very different from VCU. It is an Acting MFA, with an option to add a Directing emphasis. It's highly structured, and pretty time-intensive. Much more like CMU. The con side is, there's little to no focus on post-grad preparation, like there is at VCU, and it doesn't seem that there would be opportunity for teaching, since the program is so intensive. However, on the pro side, I'd learn tons of stuff that I don't already know, and would really like to. Voice and Speech training, Stage Combat certification, and many performance opportunities, which also look good on resumes. The financial aid is spotty here too - there are several University and College scholarships to apply for, but nothing is guaranteed. Virginia Beach itself seemed like kind of a hard place to get around, compared to Richmond. It's definitely a driving community. Of course, there is the actual beach to factor in. Which I'm sure will be even more pleasant when the winds aren't blowing at 20mph.
So, in summary, I liked both programs, and both places, but they are very different. I think ultimately both would get me to my goals, but they are very different approaches.
The next step is the audition week which includes Yale, Brown, and the URTAs which comes up at the end of January. Then, it will be wait-and-see time.
So that's the latest school info.
Personal stuff will have to wait for now. I need coffee.

Tarzan and Grandpa/Tarzan and Grandma

More posts to come soon!

What Scooby's throat was thinking...

Hm. It's been awfully quiet in here lately. Sort of light pinkish and damp - everything functioning the way it should. Painless swallowing. Loud shouting - no problem. Constant obnoxious noises - no problem. Ho hum. Kind of boring like this. What? Thanksgiving is coming up? That holiday where we see two different sets of relatives in 48 hours? Small suceptible children, and single adults who have a compromised immune system due to their lack of exposure to small suceptible children? Those relatives who've already said, "Hey, ha ha, those kids of yours aren't sick are they? Ha ha? They won't be infecting the entire family with that bug that lasts until New Years will they? HA HA????"
Hm.
Maybe I should gunk things up for awhile. Turn red. Make swallowing painful. Make kid grouchy. Oh, and make sure he sleeps in his brother's bed the night before to maximize potential germ sharing.
Bwah -hah - hah!!! (Evil laugh)
Mission accomplished.

Twenty Dollars

I dragged a huge shopping bag and box full of books to Half-Price Books today, and they gave me $20 for them all. Eh. At least I cleaned off some space on my bookshelves - and I decided to consider it a $20 gift card and promptly spent it right back. Snow today, supposed to snow tomorrow. Hopefully it will clear up a little during our drive time this weekend. I'm looking forward to this trip to DC/Virginia, but I'm kind of nervous too. So many things can happen on road trips, and this is the first time that Don will be traveling back alone with the kids. I do it all the time, but it's new for him. Hopefully the DVD players will be working and it will be an uneventful drive.

Shhh

I had a horrible drive to my show last night - Friday night rush hour traffic through Pittsburgh, with the rumors of snow making everyone have to be out, in their cars, right now, going the same way I needed to go, REALLY slowly. I showed up 45 minutes past call-time, but still in time to do the pre-show mingle. Stressful.
When I got home, I learned Scooby had a bad headache and needed me to snuggle him. I did, and our pre-midnight quiet time was actually quite lovely. No rushing to finish homework, practice violin, get to the dentist, get ready for bed, finish that dinner, brush your teeth, try to listen to three urgent conversations at once. Just quiet attention, and little shared intimacies. He regressed a little in his speech patterns, as his sleepy eyes closed and his sweaty hand clutched my sleeve. This morning there were remnants of my show makeup on his PJs.
Cinderella crawled into our bed this morning and turned on the TV. A couple of minutes later she gave a little squeak, and said, "I lost my tooth!" This is the front tooth that's been hanging on by a wish and a prayer for about a week, and it was suddenly just missing! I asked her where it was and she shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I must have swallowed it." However, upon inspection of her bed, it was lying there in the middle of the sheet, like a tiny seashell washed up on shore. She and Tarzan now have matching jack-o-lantern grins.
I'm trying to motivate myself to get off the computer and get on the treadmill. And I guess I should call Starbucks today about my application. And I have another show tonight. It's an hour away, but I'll give myself two to avoid the stress.
The kids are filling their minds with junk via the computer and TV, but it's been a super-busy week (auditions at QV, dentist appointments, Awana club, Mexican fiesta at school) and they need down time. Later I'll make them practice violin and piano, and read their school assignments, and finish their dinner, and brush their teeth, and listen to their urgent conversations. But right now, I'm sipping my coffee and enjoying the quiet.

Haul out the holly...

So I went to the opening of the new L.L. Bean store at Ross Park Mall today, because the first 500 people in line were going to get a gift card "valued between $25 and $500". By the time I got there, there were about 1000 people in line - no exaggeration. It was triple deep and curved around like Disneyworld, only without the fun ride at the end and about 70 degrees colder. But did I give up? No, I did not. I waited in this line, in 20 degree temperatures and yes, snow, for 1 1/2 hours. And were there any gift cards left when I got to the front? No, there were not. There was also no room to walk around the store once it was full of 1,000 people. So, I left. But then I went to my friend Michelle's house and scored a pink fuzzy body pillow and pink bedspread for Cinderella, a box of Tinkerbell and friends fairies, half a dozen Scooby DVD's and almost brand-new bikes for Scooby and Tarzan. Tarzan's is the Bumblebee Transformer bike and weighs about 100 pounds. Miraculously I fit it all in my sleigh, (oops, I mean minivan) and got it all home. Now...where to store it until Christmas???
I have two "Rudolph the Dead-Nosed Reindeer" shows this weekend, so it truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I guess I should explain that I didn't actually post the wish lists as suggestions for what people should buy my children, because that would mess up the carefully arranged divvying up of suggestions amongst different sides of the family, besides being entirely crass. I merely posted them because I got a kick out of the wording and such. I haven't posted Scooby's because all he's given me is a list of Webkinz. If they actually got all the Webkinz they asked for, we'd have to rent a storage unit. Tarzan continues to add to his diligently, and has even included a couple of illustrations for Santa's benefit. When told that some of his choices were kind of on the expensive side, he informed me that Santa's got enough money, so I shouldn't worry about it. Well thank goodness for that.
Speaking of money, I dropped off an application to Starbucks on Saturday, requesting the opening shift. Which, in case you are curious, starts at 5:00am. I haven't heard anything from them yet, which could be due to the fact that I attached a list of all the dates I can't work because I'm out of town or already working one of my other jobs. Do I want to get up at 4:00am and go to work in the dark? NO. However, I've had 5 shows cancelled in the past 3 weeks, and have shelled out about $500 in college application fees, and we're in a dark, dark place right now. It's cold out here. And there are wolves. (Little Simpsons reference there)
Anyway, on the good news side, my ex-college prof finally wrote letters of rec. to Yale and Brown, after much nagging on my part. I felt the need to nag, as she missed the deadline for the extremely complicated and hoop-jumping filled fellowship application that I was working on earlier in the fall, and blew my chances for being considered at all. After I'd supplied an official transcript, official MAT scores, 5 essays, and 3 other letters of recommendation, both online and hard copies. I could have spit, I was so mad. But I had to keep being nice, since she hadn't written the other ones yet. But now they're done. Hopefully she didn't take out any annoyance with my persistent reminders in the letters.
Today I spent about 4 hours doing crafts for the school holiday shop. I volunteered back in Sept. and they have to be in by Thursday, so of course I didn't start until today. I painted some picture frames, a couple of trinket boxes, and some refridgerator magnet clips. It's not a lot, but it's all they're getting. They turned out pretty cute, I think. If I can find the camera, I'll post some pictures. I've also been making real progress on Cinderella's stocking. There's a distict possibility that it might be finished by Christmas!
This afternoon we have call-back auditions for Quaker Valley's show. We're doing Beauty and the Beast this year, which should be fun. Hopefully the kids will behave at the auditions. Then we're supposed to go to a bible study, but I'm blowing it off again. I've decided it's just too far to drive 45 minutes each way for an hour long meeting. I've felt an obligation to try to keep going, but when I find myself dreading it days in advance, it's time to drop out.
Off to grab a quick shower before the bus gets here!

Cinderella's Christmas Wish List

Money machine that gives real money (actually, no, mommy, I'll make that myself out of paper so never mind)
My own Scooby phone, but not a real one
Barbie dollhouse
Hair Clips and Bows
Snowman Webkinz
Seal Webkinz
Charcoal cat Webkinz
Beagle Webkinz
Love Puppy Webkinz
Hairbow - pink
Tinkerbell movie
Pants that say angel on them

Tarzan's Christmas Wish List

Webknz and Lil'Kinz:
8. Cocoa Dinosaur
3. Eagle
2. Orca
4. Parakeet
1. Snowman
5. Blue Trigger Fish
6. White Mouse
9. Seal
7. Hummingbird
10. Cardinal

Random Toys or Stuffed animals
hot wheels Games (more)
Chineese Checkers
(1) World Rcord Book
my own gumball machine
IndIana Jones Set (with an Indiana Jones guy)
Junie B. Jones is a beauty shop guy
Junie B. Jones is (Almost) a flower girl
pogo stick

So just write anything...

What I should be doing: Putting dishes in the dishwasher, running on the treadmill (stupid cold weather), working on Cinderella's Christmas stocking (I'm determined to finish it this year! Baby's 1st Christmas 1999 has played its course), folding laundry, dusting. What I'm actually doing: reading blog posts. And feeling guilty about not updating mine.
Not much going on here. The kids all had really good teacher conferences and report cards. They're doing great in school (as Don says - So far...) He keeps waiting for them to hate school as much as he did. Even Cinderella's doing well - although the day after her great conference she came home with a "yellow card" for pushing somebody in line.
I had another training today at the medical school for NPEs or Normal Physical Exams. I learned how to take a blood pressure, how to use an oto/opthalmascope (not sure about that spelling), how to percuss a liver, check for chest expansion, use the reflex hammer, all sorts of fun stuff. So when I go for the exams in December, I can actually instruct the med students on their technique. Things we don't have to do are: invert the eyelids during the eye exam, check the gag reflex, and breast, pelvic and rectal exams. Thank heavens. No teeth scaling either. I'll practice on the kids this week, and next week I'll get tested for my certification. (I'm just certified to actually be examined, not examine other people)
We had another show get cancelled for this upcoming weekend. The economy sucks in all kinds of ways.
My life isn't terribly exciting right now, sorry!

Happy Halloween!

Briefly...

I ran my first 5K yesterday, in the rain. Was WAY at the back of the pack, because I didn't want to get run over. My goals were 1) to finish, and 2) to make it all the way without walking. Well, I did finish, but had to walk up two hills. It was really hilly, and kind of hard to breathe through all the rain. I finished in 34 minutes, 59 seconds, which is pretty pathetic, but I think I can beat it next time. (Yes, next time...bwah, hah ha!) I got a nice shirt out of it, too.
Check out Scooby's blog (link on the left - Pittsburgh Pirates) as he added a short update today. Also, Tarzan decided he wanted to start one too. So check out Timmy-Webkinz. He typed the whole entry himself, with only a little help in spelling.

Narcissism...thy name is headshot

Please vote for your favorite:

1.

2.

3.

4.


Comments are welcome, but be kind. We elderly get our feelings hurt easily.

Our Halloween friends

Courtesy of Uncle J and Aunt Melissa. Here they are before their individualized haircuts. The vampire is Scooby's, the Spider Tarzan's, and the bat Cinderella's.

And here they are after the haircuts.

I especially like Tarzan's mowhawk. Cinderella got a little scissor happy, but they grow fast.
Thanks Melissa and J!

So help me out here!

See what happens when none of you comment on my posts? I get random spam emails about the inner workings of my neurons. At least I'm assuming it's spam and not the earnestly shared yet strangely remote musings of an unidentified reader.

Strange and Stressful

That's how my day's been so far.
Last night I went for a late run - the kids were home from school all day, so I had to wait until Don came home, and ate dinner, etc. I headed out about 7:10, and caught the tail end of a gorgeous fiery sunset. I decided to head up the windy hill to see if I could catch more of it from the top, but it was pretty much gone by the time I got there. However, I got to watch the moonrise on the other side. It was a beautiful night - cool, but still with a breath of warmth from the day. But it was getting kind of dark, and there aren't many streetlamps up there. See where this is going? A car came, so I moved onto the shoulder, stumbled, and twisted my ankle. It wasn't too bad, and I ran home on it, then iced it and put it up for the rest of the night. It's not too bad today, just a constant reminder why I should only run in the daytime.
I met with my ex-CMU professor again today. She coached me through my monologue a little bit, and then we talked some more about different programs. I think I did okay - she said the monologues definitely need work, but didn't say that I totally sucked and shouldn't even bother auditioning. She stressed how hard Yale and Brown are to get into, and I agreed, but said my philosophy is they're even harder to get into if you don't apply. She said CMU auditions about 1000 for their 20 spots in the undergrad program. Yale auditions about 3000 for 10 spots. No pressure. She also gave me the name and email address of one of the other acting teachers and said she might be willing to help coach me some more, and that she'd do it herself, but didn't have the time. So I'll see if this other person is willing to help me out. I got a lot out of just the five minutes she gave me.
Then I came home and got a delivery from UPS. It was the fellowship application that I mailed two weeks ago, and it was returned saying the recipient, the U.S.Dept. of Education, had moved and the address was bad. I flipped out, as this fellowship was a HUGE pain in the ass to apply for, and they are stringent about the application deadline, which was Oct. 3rd. Fortunately, after I calmed down and contacted them, they said that many people have had this problem. In fact, here's their quote, "What we have learned is that both FedEx and UPS have been informed numerous times of the address change, and there is a sign up at the old address redirecting deliveries to the correct address (there are no staff present at the old address; it is closed). However, it seems that in some cases FedEx and UPS drivers have not followed the instructions on the sign or instructions from their managers, and have instead returned packages to the senders, simply noting that the address was "bad." As a result, several applicants have been forced to ship their applications again, after the deadline, with the documentation inside demonstrating that the original package ship date was in compliance with our deadline date of October 3rd. Your message indicates that your package was returned to you from UPS. You will not be penalized as long as the documentation inside demonstrates the original package ship date as compliant with the deadline date of October 3rd." So it's the stupid UPS drivers fault - not their own for not bothering to change the shipping information on their website.
So anyway, I'll reship it tomorrow. I'll see if I can get UPS to do it for free this time.
Oh, and it looks like I won't be applying to UMAss, because they won't waive their stupid GRE requirement, and I'm not taking a $150 test for one application.
AND, Pitt responded and said they're happy with the two MFA students they have, thank you very much, but try again in 2010.
Gotta love this process, right?

October Blue

The house is never so quiet as when I close the door behind them after they get on the bus.
I had a long involved dream last night about being in a car crash - a silver Camero in the other lane rear-ended a red sports car which crossed the median and crashed into my car. I spun around and was thrown from the car into the street, where I lay semi-conscious for several minutes. These details are very clear. After that it gets fuzzier. A policeman came and was more interested in investigating the contents of the car's trunk than in helping me off the street. There was a roll of money in the trunk - a couple thousand dollars, and nothing more. I insisted I didn't know where it had come from, and it was my husband's car, but he certainly didn't keep wads of money lying around in the trunk. Then I had to follow the police car in my own car, and suddenly we were in a bad snowstorm and I couldn't drive or even see. I was still feeling shaky from being in the crash. Then there was something about being in a restaurant that a friend owned, and lots of people were coming in, and they didn't have enough food. I was dressed up in my Bride of Frankenstein outfit. And somehow I had to call Don and tell him I couldn't meet him because of the snowstorm, and also because I was going to leave him for the policeman.
For some reason, I'm feeling tired and headachey this morning.
I'll post this now, but I plan on trying to take some pictures of the sky later. There is just something about October that brings out the most incredible blue skies and color contrasts with the leaves. I remember distinctly that last year, on my birthday, I had just discovered the walking route that took me up to the top of the hills by the beautiful meadows. I remember looking at the sky and breathing the air, and feeling really happy.
This year, for some reason, I'm feeling blue. Overwhelmed, tired. I spent my birthday feeling old and dull and stupid. And fat. I've been trying to walk or run almost everyday, but I'm not making any progress.
It's frigging ridiculous how time consuming this application process is. If I had a full time job, I'd never be able to do it. I've spent at LEAST 20 hours this week alone on essay questions, ordering transcripts, requesting letters of recommendation, and filling out forms. And I'm not done yet!!!! And then I think about how small the chances are that I'll actually get into these programs, and it feels like a total waste of time. Of course, the chances are smaller if I don't apply, so there you are.
I'm applying to Brown's MFA Acting and MFA Directing programs, Yale's MFA Acting program (aim for the sky), Boston University's MFA Directing and MFA Theater Education programs, Regent's MFA Acting program, CMU's MFA directing program, UMass's MFA Directing program (if I can get around the GRE requirement), and possibly Virginia Commonwealth's and Savannah College of Art and Design's MFA Acting programs. In addition to two national Fellowship programs, and the National Resident Theater Acting and Directing Auditions. AND I contacted Pitt and let them know that I'm still interested, and still available, should they feel a sudden burning desire to fill another spot.
Today, I need to go buy some underwear and running bras. And write three more essays.
I will drive carefully.

How I understand the economy

Here's some writing about the economy that I can understand. No, I didn't write it, but it sure resonates with me!
http://www.breedemandweep.com/?p=439

I watched the debate last night. Can't say I was overly impressed with either candidate, but Palin made me laugh ("Say it ain't so, Joe!) and even if she's not necessarily VP material, I'd love to hang out with her. Maybe we could carpool our kids to hockey. Oh, wait. My kids aren't ever going to be allowed to play hockey. Oh well, there goes that brush with fame.
In other news, I'm LOVING our new DVR. It's totally going to spoil me. We only have it for a year (great sign-up deal)and I don't know how we'll ever go back!

Update

Last night, my friend Deb took me to see Wicked at the Benedum in Pittsburgh. We went out to dinner first at the Sewickley Cafe - I had Tuscan chicken with portabello mushrooms, artichokes, and red peppers, roasted potatoes with goat cheese, and asparagus. It was incredibly grown-up - no chicken fingers in sight! Of course, dinner for one cost as much as all five of us going out together to the places we usually go, but it was quite yummy. We drove downtown for the show, and it was WONDERFUL! I've seen a couple of touring shows at the Benedum - Les Mis, Grease, Spamalot...but I have to say, this show exceeded all my expectations. I'm not a bandwagon-hopper, and normally if a show gets too popular I run the other way, but all the hype around this one is justified. I've liked the original cast recording ever since I first heard it, and I've always loved Kristen Chenowith (the original Galinda) so I thought that whoever I saw in the touring company couldn't possibly measure up. But Katie Rose Clarke was awesome. She had the "Legally Blonde" perky cuteness, the voice of an angel, AND the hilarious physical comedy of a Gilda Radner/Mary Catherine Gallagher type comedic actress. I laughed so hard during "Popular" that I almost peed myself. And Carmen Cusack as Elphaba was great too. She had the power for the big belt numbers, the vulnerability for the small moments of self-confession, and a dry wit with perfect comic timing that set off Katie Rose Clarke terrifically. QUITE an enjoyable evening.

Don signed us up for Verizon FIOS service - he found a deal that was actually cheaper than the Comcast Basic that we had before. So now we have all these channels, and DVR, but noone knows how to use them yet.

The kids were very excited Monday to see the Season 3 Premiere of FETCH! We had a little Premiere party in the living room. Yesterday the FIOS guy was still here though, and they missed day 2.

Last week I met with my freshman year acting teacher from CMU to talk about MFA programs. It was a little awkward at first (it's been 20 years since she had me in class! Holy crap!) but she was very gracious, and we had a good talk. She invited me to come back and do my audition peices for her, and she would coach me. Which is a damn good offer from the head of the acting program at CMU! So I was supposed to go back yesterday, but she got sick and had to cancel. Hopefully we'll be able to reschedule soon.

Murder in the Cathedral is done - we had great audiences and got positive feedback from everyone. It was sure a difficult play, and I dont' really have any desire to do it again, but it was good experience and seems to have been well received.

Now it's prime Murder Mystery season. We've got our two big Halloween shows, MacDeath and Murder at the Drac Shack, and then the two big Christmas shows, Rudolph the Dead-Nosed Reindeer and Death on the Air. That will keep me pretty busy up through December.

School open house is tomorrow night - I'll get a chance to talk with Tarzan and Cinderella's teachers and finally meet Scooby's. They seem like they're all doing really well. Tarzan is reading up a storm - I think he's a better reader than even Scooby was in first grade, and Scooby was pretty good!

Off to start the day!

Busy Busy...

Working at the Med. School, show opening tomorrow, lots of application essays to write...updates soon, I hope!

Phone Geek

How we spent our Monday with no power. I claim no credit for this one whatsoever. Expect lots of screaming.

We're gonna turn it on...

So, after 45 hours, our power has been restored. The remnants of hurricane Ike blew through here on Sunday night (right at the beginning of the Steeler game) and knocked out power for over 100,000 people in the Pittsburgh area. I don't know if it's because 1/2 the crews were already en route to Houston, or what, but it took two days to restore our power, and they're saying some people may not get it back until Friday. The kids were off of school yesterday - they went back today with power in 1/2 the building - not sure if they were using generators or what. We played lots of board games and Barbies, and I threw them outside frequently, althought I did NOT use the phrase "get the stink blown off."
We lost all the food in the fridge/freezer, although fortunately there wasn't much in there to begin with. We didn't have any way to cook anything anyway. If asked what we missed most, I'm sure the kids would say the computer, Don would say the TV, and I'd have to toss it up between the internet and my coffeemaker in the morning. At least we had water, and the temperature has been comfortable. In fact the weather has been beautiful. I went running (walking) today up the BIG hill and the road was actually closed, but I went up it anyway. There were three trees fallen on top of wires, on that road alone, that hadn't been cleared off yet. Weird. The storm on Sunday was actually quite cool too - there was no rain, just lots of wind. It was hot in the house, so Don and I went outside for awhile and looked up at the full moon and the clouds just streaking past it as the wind roared around us. It was breathtaking. And candlelight for one night was fun. By the second night it was starting to get old. And by today, we really needed to do some laundry. (I had three days worth of running clothes in there - stinky!!!)
So we're back in business now. Yippee! S -, it was fun to read about your amusement park adventures. We took the kids to Canobie Lake a couple of years ago. It's a nice little park. M and J - hope you're both getting/staying healthy. L -, where are you?

One of my weird jobs

For those of you interested, here's a humorous article describing some of what I do at the Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical School.
http://www.slate.com/id/2169480/pagenum/all/
Although I haven't actually done the physical exams yet, it's coming up later in the fall. So far, I've only done interviewing skills, where I don't actually have to "gown up". This week I did Nicotene Cessation training on Monday, today and Friday I have training for Psychiatric cases (OCD and Schizophrenia) and tomorrow I have appendicitis. It's been a tough week. : )

Some marketer did his job

From a "Children's Place" magazine ad:

Just after "don't-forget-your-sweater"

and "hurry-the-bus-is-here" and "pick-you-up-after-soccer,"

a small but familiar hand waves goodbye

from inside a moving bus and the world stops

for just a second.

value every moment

Wow

So tonight was pretty amazing. One of Don's on-the-side clients gave us an invitation to an opening night at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Don couldn't go, so I went with my friend, Deb. There was a reception beforehand, with (complimentary) hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and drinks (I had Yellowtail Shiraz.) They gave us a (complimentary) planning calendar with the name of the Playhouse on the front. Then we took our two (complimentary) tickets to the show, which happened to be Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, directed by HIS SON, Rob Miller, who was there, and gave a short talk before the play. The show was exceptionally well done. The set design was simple, but very effective. There was a two-story "house", made out of wire mesh, and filled from floor to ceiling with stuff - a sled, a tricycle, and old washing machine, a dresser, a filing cabinet, etc. Different parts of the house would be illuminated at different times, but the only functional parts were the kitchen area downstairs, and a bedroom upstairs. Then surrounding the house, were towering stacks of windows, representing the encroaching apartment buildings around the house. The only functional window was where the musician sat, playing an oboe, an alto flute, an acoustic guitar. The acting was spot on, and the only drawback was the cigarette smoke from the actors onstage. It got a little annoying at times, but it wasn't enough to detract from the evening.
Then I took my (complimentary) parking pass, retrieved my car, and drove home.
Lovely evening.

Happy Birthday, Cinderella

My baby is 5 now. Fully fledged five, happily going to kindergarten, riding the bus, planning her life. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, her first answer is still "Tinkerbell, because then I can fly". But now she has also added "Policeman" and "President" and "A Mom, so I can tell everybody what to do." (Ha.)

Her dalmation-princess birthday party was a success - it was beautiful weather, so we opened up the pool and that takes a lot of game-playing pressure off of me. Although we did still hunt for plastic bones in the yard, play pin-the-tail and the spot on the dalmation, and musical dog-dishes. Granny made a terrific chocolate and vanilla cake with white icing and chocolate chip spots, and we had our dalmation pinata. She LOVED all her presents, especially the dalmation Webkinz, the Little Mermaid styling head, and all the Barbies. She's been playing with her new toys all weekend, and there wasn't one that she seemed disappointed in, with the exception of the socks and underwear given to her by us. Although, it was Hannah Montana underwear and that was pretty cool.

She's headstrong, this five year old. She knows what she wants, and she knows how to get it. I taught her the word kleptomaniac this weekend, because we always know to look somewhere in her room when we're missing a hairbrush, or a mirror, or a flashlight, or the kitchen timer. She's like a magpie - feathering her nest with shiny things that catch her fancy. She's volatile - either joyfully buzzing around the room with shiny accessories flashing, or bursting into tears because we've asked her to eat her waffle. Not many shades of gray with her. Only the new hairs that sprout on my head after each confrontation.


I'm so grateful to have this healthy, happy, spark in our lives. She keeps us laughing, and dancing, and always hopping to stay ahead of her.

Happy birthday, Cinderella.