Tech week is upon us!

Yes folks, this is tech week of our show. Actually we open Thursday so things are a tad hectic.

Nuncrackers, as you might have guessed, is about nuns. So we have to wear habits. Last time we borrowed our costumes from another theater, but this time they all had to be made. The reputation of the director/costumer/set decorator is one of procrastination, and thats the nicest way to put it. So do we have our costumes? no. Well, at least not the whole thing. Tonight we had the head piece to work with and can I just say that when the costume is on in combination with the stage lights the temperature in the theater rises like 1000 degrees. But...most of the songs are solid, there are a few forgotten words but that's no big deal. We're together on the dancing and my sister says we're hilarious, but I think that's only because she knows us and knows what's supposed to happen and what actually does happen.

I guess I'm excited about the play, I haven't really been into it this time around and I think it's because 1) the pressure of finding a job, and 2) I'm just burned out on this theater/director and ready to move on. I'm finding it hard to let go though and hope that when this play is over I'll feel free to spread my wings a little and maybe step up to the next level of my life. It's getting a little stagnant I think.

On a different note, I saw Rent today with my sister and we were the only ones in the theater. It was possibly because it was Monday at 1 pm but that's cool. I was all excited about seeing this movie because I loved the stage show and the soundtrack so much, but I was highly disappointed in the whole thing. I was ready to go in the first 10 minutes and needless to say I won't be adding it to my collection. I guess die hard fans would buy it, but I'm not one of those, contrary to what my sister says. Just because I know all the words to every song doesn't make me a freak, it just comes naturally.

I just wanted to shed some light on what it's like to be me at 3 A.M. I awoke last night to see my cat Chubby jumping on the bed and then flop down on my head. This is semi-normal behavior, so that's not the funny part. That comes when I tell you that this horrible smell of poo started filling my nostrils and I'm thinking that he's decided to start using my bed as the litter box. Seriously, I was afraid to move in case I put my hand in something smooshy, but it turns out that he just had really baaaaaddd gas. Really bad. Bad gas. Farts. Bad. So I put him outside and we were both happy.

Snort at that one Sessa ;)

Tragedy!

Thanksgiving shmanksgiving. Being sick on a holiday is so not fun.

OK, get this. The play opens next Thursday and for the past 4 days I've been sick with a sore throat and massive snot flow. Oh, and my ears are stopped up. My voice is nearly gone so I sound like a frog when I sing. I've never been sick for a play so this will be interesting to see unfold.

We had to write our bios for the program and I'm so not good at that. I feel like I'm signing a year book or being tested on my essay writing abilities. There's so much stuff I wanted to say but then I chickened out and just went with the uninteresting facts. Woo. Chicken.

Welp, that's about it but I'll leave you with a shot from tonights practice.



I tweaked it a weensy bit.

birthdays, bonfires and dreams

Today I realized that I'm good at thinking up things and then getting other people to do them. Maybe I should try to find a job doing that.

Tuesday was my seester's birthday but I'm slow so sorry about the time lapse. I got it in my head to have a bonfire for her because at the time it was still freakishly warm outside and we chose Friday as the big day. But as Wednesday dawned cooler than it had been I began to sense that the party might be a mistake. I had sent the invites on Monday and got a surprisingly big response so I was still praying for it to be warm for the party, but alas it was not meant to be. Last night it got down in the 20's so I knew there was no chance for a warm party. I've worked at the daycare for the past three days so preparing for the party proved to be a challenge. I have to give all the credit to my mumsy and sister because even though it was my idea, they did all the work. Everything's being set up and they're hanging the Christmas lights in the trees and here I am at the daycare painting the trim in the dining room. I feel a little guilty for that, but hey it's money and I have bills. I get home at 5 and the party started at 6 so I didn't have much time to clean up but it didn't matter because it was so freakin' cold I was bundled up pretty good. It was pretty warm once you got out there by the fire. We had the fire going in a huge blaze and the trees looked so pretty with the lights and when the full moon started to come up it was perfect. We were just a cozy little group. Eating in the dark was not easy but the dog ate what we dropped so it all worked out. It was over by 8 but that's ok because I was ready to come in and relax.

Ok the dream.
I was at a theater and they were having a festival/contest where different theater groups came and performed their version of a specific play. The theme for that year was Phantom of the Opera. I was sitting in the audience with some people from my church watching one group and I got up to leave and my nana (who is deceased) was there asking me if she could take my seat. The people I was with got offended but I ignored them and left to the back of the theater. I don't really remember anything about the Phantom interpretation except the girl said something about fire and then there was a torch going down a well and her voice kept repeating something. I was at the back of the theater and my director (Brenda) was there telling me she was going to go on tour with one of the groups (if only) but she was disappointed about something. Then it was the end of the festival and the theater was empty and gray with leaves blowing around. I got in a car and started out and it was like a forest but when we tried to go the ground was wet and mushy and we got stuck in the pine needles and mud.

I woke up after that but it was very real and very weird. Well, I see that this is plenty long so I'll just leave you with the knowledge that I'll be at the theater all day tomorrow trying to get together some resemblance of a play. I can't wait.

apologies all around

OK, I feel very out of control at the moment so I just want to say I'm sorry to Claire for coming off as snippy or short. I promise I was not trying to be. Let's just all be happy unassuming people again and go along our merry way. My motto is "I smile because I have no idea what's going on". I find that if you act dumb nobody expects you to do much. Doh!...I gave away my secret!

Moving on...

I finally got some pictures of my treasures from the other day and here they are:


These shoe are so awesome! They say "Salvadore Ferragamo France" and then "made in Italy". Yes, that would be the bright orange price sticker on the inside.



My wonderful blue and white toboggan I can't wait to wear. I hope it gets colder soon.

Touche!

I must clear up something that I posted last might. When I said I tell stories between songs, it was a joke! I was soooo joking. I'm one of the few cast members who actually knows what going on! Sorry for any confusion that might have popped up concerning my concentrating abilities. Cheese and crackers, I guess my humor is lost on all but the chosen few.

And...

Ok, I know I said I'd put up pictures but tonight I get to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for FREEEEEEE! So how can I pass that up? No, I didn't have time during the day because I was gone all day and got home around 4 and well I just don't feel like it.


Other than that, have a nice day!

Annoyed Much?

Tonight at play practice a couple of people were being less than pleasant and that put everyone on edge. You could cut the tension with a knife. There was too much negativity man and it was bringing me down. There seems to be a conflict between one of the actors and...well, everyone else. So tonight the director was in a mood and snapped everyone's head off because we apparently weren't doing enough concentrating. Can I help it if I have lots of stories to tell and the only time I get to tell them is between songs? But really, this woman (let's call her J) is becoming very annoying which is affecting the show.

In other news, I went to 2 thrift stores today and got some good shtuff. In the first one I picked up a needlepoint picture frame, a cute bunny and a very cute pair of shoes. Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

In the second store I racked up with an awesome blue and white toboggan, a vintage blue and pink lace house coat, a cute little baby sweater that says hello on the front and goodbye on the back, and even thought I don't have any childrens it was too cute to pass up, a cool old book o' beauty, and a little Christmas ornament that I hope is old but I don't care it's still cute. Really, I'll have pictures tomorrow.

That's it for tonight. Oh, and I still need a job.

New look!

AAAAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I love this template and I'm so happy I got it to work. At least I hope it's working. I don't have good luck with html. It's a cool retro blue and I am really into retro right now. yahooooo!

ok..ttfn *happy dance to bed*

I'm a slug

I'm a big lazy anti-goody-two-shoes. But today I have updates! I spent today with my mumsy and seester in Pigeon Forge shopping and taking stupid pitures of each other. I'll put some of those on my photo blog. Oh, and your gonna love this. We had just gotten through Rockwood when this fire engine came up behind us and zoomed passed us like we were standing still and we were like ooo I wonder where it's going. About five minutes later my sister gets a call from her niece saying that a fire truck was coming to her house because they had set a brush pile on fire and somebody had reported it. We got to her house and there was her sister-in-law spraying the towering blaze with water while the men and several other various vehicles were parked in the driveway watching. They had gotten a permit, but some nosey blankety-blank had called it in because that's what you do around here when you get bored. Woo there's a fire, Mildred go get the lawn chairs and a coupla brewskys...oh and bring the video camera! We may wanna show this to the grandkids later on. Anyhow they got everything settled and nobody got in trouble or hurt. :D

If you haven't noticed I put a new picture on my profile. It's the most decent and normal one I could find in my files, although I do look a little glowy-eyed demon-ish. I'll see if I can dig up a better one.

Can I just say how sad it is when you spend your Friday evenings at home and the highlight of the whole night is the Capitol One commercial where the vikings are finding new jobs and going trick-or-treating? Yep, that would be my life.

Uhmm...play practice is going....swell. We open the first weekend in December and I haven't really gotten into the swing of practice yet. Usually I'm the one who's running lines constantly and trying to be perfect with the stage directions, but I just don't care at this point. Gee, I hope that doesn't have any affect on my performance.

Ok. well I'm going over to the other site to post some pictures now. I don't like this template so I'm gonna try to find another one. Hmm, that shouldn't be too hard. HA!

I just realized that I have pictures of Louisiana and I should share them with others. So instead of uploading them all I've put them on Flickr. Here's the link

They're not that awesome because I didn't get much of a chance to take pictures, that pesky work kept taking my time. Honestly, we worked from sun-up until about 5 or 6, but it was a rare chance I got to actually take time to run to the van, get my camera, and snap a quick picture or two.

So here ya go, I have to go watch House Hunters now. I'm a dork, shut up.

I have a photoblog!

Hurray! So I finally opened a new place to view my pictures for anyone that's interested.

I decided to call it Picture Me This. I don't know why, it doesn't really make sense, but it sounds good.

I hope you enjoy seeing the world through my little eyeballs. It's not Ansel Adams, but life would be boring if everyone was the same, no?

new....uh.....news

A few updates for ya:

I'm getting emails almost every day asking for chain saw groups and feeding groups to go to LA and now Florida for clean up and it frustrates me so much because I can't go unless there's a team willing to take me with them, and since I have no experience with a chainsaw, well I'm stuck. I suppose I could go down there myself and say here I am, put me where you want me, but that makes me feel like I'm barging in. What to do, what to do? Oh yeah, and I still need a job.

TVT has started rehearsal for their Christmas play, Nuncrackers, and *ta-da* I'm in it. I will be reviving my role as Sister Robert Anne and singing my little heart out with the other girls that are stepping back into their characters. We had our first real rehearsal tonight and won't meet again until next Monday, so I'm already getting to the GRRRRRR stage and we just started.

My sister got the soundtrack to "Wicked" today and it's awesome. I've already listened to it once through, and I have a feeling I'll soon have it memorized.

And the last thing. I'm not gonna put any more pictures on this blog, but I'm going to start a photo blog. I may put one up just to emphasize a point or something, but for the most part I think the words and the pictures take away from each other. So check back for the link.

That's about it. Have a good night.

home again

I got home Saturday, but let me tell you I've been catching up on my sleep, so forgive the delay in posting. It seems like I've been in another world for the past week. Time in Louisiana seemed to be absent for the people who work tirelessly and constantly for those who have lost everything. I ended up working with a chainsaw group, not the feeding unit like I expected, but it turned out better that way. I felt like I was doing more to help people. I really had no concept of time while I was dragging limbs and logs larger than myself across the yards of houses that had their roofs caved in, siding blown everywhere, and powerlines hanging down.

I was in a town called Sulphur, one of the hardest hit in that area, and before I got there I really didn't know what to expect. I kind of thought it would be a small town like mine, with 2 red lights and not much else. It turned out to be quite large, and much more than I expected. There wasn't any flooding, mostly wind damage and leaking from holes in the roofs, but some people still lost everything. There were houses that had so much damage from trees and right beside them the neighboring house would be untouched, no trees down or anything. The week before we got there the town had a curfew of 6 pm, fortunately that was lifted by the time we got there, but most businesses still closed before it got dark. Wal Mart closed at 3 and had lines to get in the store. That to me is amazing, that you have to stand in line just to get inside the Wal Mart.

We stayed in the gym at Maplewood First Baptist Church,taking our meals and sleeping in the same space. Let me tell ya that it's not fun waking up and seeing people staring at you while they're in line for breakfast. I didn't watch TV the whole time I was there, mostly because there wasn't one, and we worked all day clearing trees and brush only stopping for a short lunch. By the time we finished all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep. Tylenol PM was my best friend. We completed 10 houses in the week we were there, but there's so much more to do and not enough people to do it. New volunteers from the Tenn. Baptist Convention Disaster Relief come every day or so, but even with groups working nonstop, the jobs never seem to get smaller. The day we left there were still over 1,000 job requests from people that couldn't afford to pay to have trees removed, and were relying on the kindness of volunteers they had never met before.

Friday they closed the feeding unit for the public, claiming that the numbers were going down and that meant things were getting back to normal. The number of people fed on Monday was over 8,000 and by Thursday it was 4,000 something, so yeah, it was time. Normal for these people will be a long time coming, but it's a step in the right direction now that they have power.

I left Saturday with mixed emotions. I wanted to stay and help as much as I could, and stay in this world simplified by disaster, but yet I wanted to go home and escape from the tragedy and destruction that was left in the wake of the storm. Hopefully I'll go back, but for now I just have to get on with life in Tennessee.

Leia called me tonight at 9:35 ish to let me know that she had gotten there safely. These are her words, sort of...at least this is what she told me to write. Lol. Okay, so it took them 14 hours to get there, and on the way they stopped at Burger King, and she got a chicken sandwich that wasn't even cooked. She didn't eat it. But, once they got there, she said there were trees everywhere, huge trees, and huge piles of brush on the sides of the streets, higher than her head (she's 5'7), and the smell was horrid. They are staying in a gym, and she had just taken a shower when she called, and was heading to bed, because she gets to get up at 6:30 in the morning. So, that's it so far. I'm sure she'll be calling me again with something she wants me to blog for her. So...there ya go =D

Hola, Speia readers! This is her sister, and I'm just writing up a lil postie to let you know that she left this morning, having to be in Dayton at 4:00 a.m. She was not happy about that, believe you me. Anyway, she will be calling me from time to time, letting me know what's going on so that I may relay the messages on to you all. If you pray, please keep her in your prayers - if not, keep her in your thoughts. I worry about her too much, I suppose. :)

Today I've realized quite a few things. First, I've been basing the success of this blog by the comments, or lack thereof. I read other people's blogs and they have like 50 comments or something like that,and I get really discouraged because I have ZERO! But then I look at my stats and I'm doing pretty darn good. I realized that I read these blogs but I never leave comments, so just because no one is commenting doesn't mean they're not reading. It does make me feel good though when I see a comment, until I discover that it's some stupid spam ad for beauty products or porn or garbage like that. My advice to myself-it takes two to make a connection.

Second, I rely too heavily on people. I seem to meet people and then attach myself to them thinking that we have some special bond and that they're gonna drop everything and help me when I ask them. In reality, I don't really know them, they don't really know me so why should they even acknowledge me, let alone stop what they're doing to help me.

I remember in college when I was first introduced to chat rooms there was this one guy I used to talk to all the time. He was fairly popular around the chat rooms that I visited, so I felt like I had a connection with him. One day I was in the school library with one of my friends chatting away when these two hoodlums came up to where the computers were and started bugging us online. They would interrupt our chats and would say really crude and derrogatory things to us, we told the librarian but she couldn't do anything abou it. Later, on another day when I was talking with this guy I told him what had happened and said I wished he would have been there to stop these guys. After that he never would talk to me and had this other girl tell me to stop talking to him, which I thought was a bit much but whatever. I was totally devastated because I didn't even know where this guy was from and I knew he couldn't have done anything about it but here he was treating me like a stalker, which I'm not, btw.

Anyway, so now I find myself trying to make connections with people based on their blogs that I read, when in reality I don't know them from Adam. I'm not a freaky stalker-type person I swear. I'm just needy.

OK, so that was only two things, but very important things. I had a third one but something freaky happened and I lost it, but I think I just needed to vent on that one and it's not important now. But if you must know I'll give you the microwave version. I had a friend, he ditched me for his fiance, and now even though we say we're friends it won't be anything more than emails and eventually nothing.

Happy?

Am I ready?

I've been trying to avoid writing simply because I don't know what to say. I'm finally getting to leave Wednesday for Louisiana to a town called Sulphur, and I'm excited but concerned about my lack of money situation. Not having a job just sucks a big fat one when you have bills. I wish I had never gotten any credit cards, and the sad part is only one of them is a major card! The rest are like department store cards that I put way too much money on for stupid things I don't even need. Play the violins for me, I'm a little whiney tonight. But hey, I'm better! I actually ate real food last night and again tonight. Mashed potatoes though they may be, at least it's not popsicles. I'll miss my popsicles. The yummy, banana-ey goodness that they are and ever will be, frozen forever in time until someone takes one out of the freezer to enjoy. Yum.

Ok, so I don't think they've restored power to Sulphur yet, so I don't know how often I'll get to post, hopefully at least once a week. I'm thinking about using my sister as a liason to the blog. My plan is to call her on the cell, relay my thoughts while she types it on here. I think it will work. Now I just have to tell her. hee hee.

New Look

I was trying to put up a new template here but I couldn't get the one I wanted so I just got really frustrated and went with one from blogger. But I like pink so I guess this is ok. I had everything working last night but I checked it today and all I get is a white screen. GRRRRRRRRRRR.

I've been sick since last Thursday so I haven't had much energy to update or anything. To summarize, I went to the Dr. Friday because every time I tried to swallow food or drink my chest hurt horribly, had a high (103) fever and ended up in the ER Saturday, told I had bronchitis, went back to the Dr. Tuesday for him to tell me I have a totally different thing wrong and gave me more meds.

So I haven't eaten anything solid since friday. Been livin' on yogurt and banana popsicles. My jeans fit better. That's about the only thing good that's come of this.

So as it turns out, I did get to watch the season premier of "Lost" because I'm still at home and still waiting for the word from *somebody* that it's ok to head south. I did get an email asking for volunteers to clean out mud so I'll have to get in contact with my "lead person" and see when we can leave. Woo!

I have the need to tell this story...so the other day I went to Sonic with my sister and ordered a bacon cheese burger with NO mayonaise. I hate mayo. Well, except in potato and macaroni salad, but you don't really know it's there. Back to the story. When the guy who took my order repeated it back to me, he said no mayo. When the girl brought it out to me she said no mayo. When I opened it up, what do you think was on the freakin bread? MAYO!!!!! Oh my goodness, what is so hard about just listening? That really annoys me that people who are paid to listen to details don't actually take the time to do it. *This is my vent session so just don't get all fired up now.*

We were sitting there thinking of ways to retaliate which included me going up to the window and smacking the bread up against it and yelling "I said no mayo!" which then turned into me writing with the greasy nasty bun "no mayo" across the window. Of course I didn't do any of that. I just wiped the nasty stuff off into the bag along with my lettuce and sat there whining whilst I ate my sandwich. Because that's what I do. I don't have the guts to actually tell someone they messed up. Well, someone I don't know. hehehe

It wasn't even that good.

still waiting

I got my tetanus shot today! For free!!!!! I was going to go to the doctor's office, but when I found out how much the office visit cost plus what the shot was going to cost, I called the health department. It was waaaay cheaper to go there so off I went and when I got there and told them I was going to be a relief worker, they said "no charge". So a big fat thank you to the Rhea County health department.

I'm still waiting for the word that we're good to go, so I've had lots of time to think about why I'm doing this, what I'm going to miss, and how much this means to me.

I'm going to Louisiana because Jesus has called us to go into the world, teaching God's word and helping those who need it. I can't think of any better chance than this to show the love of Jesus to people who have lost everything.

As the new fall season of TV begins I realize that I'm going to miss the second season of Lost! waaahh. I realized this when I saw a preview for it the other day. I'm going to rely heavily on my mumsy to record it for me. I'm also going to miss sleep. I'm a lazy butt who likes to sleep late, and fortunately all my previous jobs have allowed me to do exactly that. But I'm thinkin' that down there, time will be absent and I'll sleep when I can get a chance.

I also paid off my car today. I owed less than $1000 so I figured if I paid it off, that would be one less payment to worry about. Instead, I get to pay on my card for 500 years. But I own my car now! I told my sister that now the engine will probably fall out or something like that, just so it could be spiteful and laugh in my face.

Not much else going on. I'm very boring when I don't have a job. Sorry.