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.

Back to School!

Well, this is it! Yesterday was the first official day of school, although for Cinderella it was more of a 1/2 day, meet the teacher, tour the building day. Today is her first real day. She's totally confident, relaxed, and happy to be there. Her teacher is very young - just graduated last December - but also seems confident and very happy to be in her job. She's also very pretty, which is always helpful for a Kindergarten teacher. Tarzan's in 1st grade, and he loves his teacher. She's the same one Scooby had in 1st grade, and he's built up a great reputation for her. Tarzan was so excited when he found out he had her too. Scooby has lots of different teachers, but some of his friends are in his homeroom with him, so he's happy about that. He starts string practice next week.

I should be feeling all weepy and nostalgic that my "baby" is going to kindergarten, but honestly, I don't. She hasn't been my "baby" for a long time, and she's definitely ready to go. I was much more weepy when Scooby started. As you can see from the bus pictures, she didn't even want to look back. She's off on a new adventure! And maybe, eventually, so will I be.

I'm back...sort of

How to summarize...

We had a family camping weekend in Cook Forest - even Don came! We managed to set up our tent, build a fire (eventually), go canoeing, and split some wood. The weather was perfect and we had a great time.
Then I went to Mass. for two weeks, and it was wet wet wet! We managed to have fun in between the raindrops, though. We went mini-golfing, ate ice cream at Kimballs, spent a day in Maine (shopping in Kennebunkport, lunch in Wells, beach at Ogunquit), visited Westford's playground, introduced Cinderella to my "vintage" Barbies, brought home an armful of 80's prom dresses for my friend who's costuming "The Wedding Singer" this fall, swam in the pool, visited with family, went back-to-school shopping, drank some wine, enjoyed the new porch, played Guitar Hero for the first time...it was pretty full. I also taught 3 songs to my Mom's chorus, videotaped the choreography, and performed in two hour-long shows at a county fair. It was good. And the transmission didn't fall out, and no one had to go to the emergency room, so it was a step up from 2007!
My mind was pretty preoccupied the whole time, though. I'm trying to figure out Plan B in this whole grad school thing. Plan A, which fell through, was to pursue an MFA in Performance and Pedagogy at the Univ. of Pittsburgh. Plan B has been up in the air since that didn't work out. So, I thought, maybe Plan B was to pursue an alternate route, and I looked into an MA at Regent University in Theater Studies, about half of which can be done online, and the rest with an 8 week summer residency. In the course of "looking into it", they told me they had openings for Fall, so I jumped at it, did all the application essays, resumes, letters of rec., transcript, etc.etc. and they accepted me into the program. However, it's not one of those programs which funds the grad students, unlike Pitt, and the money turned out to be a pretty major stumbling block. Especially since I had missed most of the deadlines around grant and scholarship money. The start of classes was fast approaching, and I was starting to freak out about it, so I asked them to defer my enrollment at least until spring.
In the meantime, I was rethinking the whole MA option, and the online part of it too, wondering if after all the work is done, it might be perceived as somewhat of a lesser degree - a "Jr. College" version, if you will. And that for my ultimate goal, of teaching in a university, I'd probably be better served pursing an MFA after all.
Which brings me to plan C...possibly going back to square one and reapplying to MFA programs. And since the local ones, Pitt and Point Park aren't accepting applications until 2010 and 2011 respectively, it would mean moving if I'm to go somewhere in 2009. Surprisingly, (or maybe not) there aren't that many options for MFAs in theater in the Northeast. My shortlist right now is Boston University, Brown University, Yale (yeah, right!), Penn State, and Regent (which also offers an MFA) Perhaps with Regent, I might not have to reapply with all the paperwork, and could just do the audition phase. There are probably other programs out there, but these are the ones I'm looking at right now. I don't want to live in NYC (sorry Steve...if it were just me, it might be different) I also need to think about URTA auditions (a group audition in NYC or Chicago hosted by a variety of grad schools). It costs money to audition, and you need to be nominated and have a sponsor...It's a lot to wrap my brain around.
In the meantime, I've started working on Murder in the Cathedral, the kids start school on Monday, and I have to learn a new murder mystery script this weekend. The kids all got haircuts today! (There were 10 kids in Great Clips when we went in...fortunately the family of 7(!) in front of us was just finishing up!)
Sorry for the boring post...I'd love to stop talking and thinking about all this, and just get on with it! Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon. All input and advice is welcome!!!

Summer Shower