People...

This is the most put together conference clothes-wise that welve ever been to. People who work at art & history museums tend to put actual thought into the way they dress, and do so annoyingly artsy and well. Art Museums = BFA in Lit. Science Museum = geeks.

Beautiful place, beautiful day...

Denver:
- Sucks the moisture out of strangers. There's no water in the air here. So it takes it from you.
- Believes in sunshine
- Likes its old hotels. Last night, post conferencing (my conference made my tummy stressed... darkened hall of the Convention Center.. poorly presented data... but luckily, I wasn't alone in my questioning of the whole thing), Steph and I wandered in the sunlight to the Brown Palace, which was jawdropping beautiful and Old Skool. Cigar bar, men in suits - - it's been a hotel since... 1887? Something like that. I ordered a vodka martini, and was shown that I don't know how to order a martini unless it's called something like TangeloI'MAGIRLtwist and off of a menu. Luckily, after some fumbling, I got taught (Vodka Martini, straight up, olives, dirty) - -delish!

We then wandered back to the hotel, checked out the hot tub (which is not quite on the roof of the hotel, but rather, on an edge of the hotel - - still outdoors) and then wandered our way to another beautiful old hotel, the Oxford (by the astonishing train station). Inside the Oxford in the Cruise Room Bar -- which was modeled after a lounge on the Queen Mary. This was "the office" - - and beautiful. Learned: raw oyster = yum. Fried oysters = non. I met a cool geek of the highest order (Instructables, and howtoons.. f'ing cool.) and our now-large posse of museum folk wandered back to the 16th Street mall, to a place called the Paramount, and then to home.

They build things big here - - which you kind of have to, to compliment the mountains. They also keep their old stuff - - which I like. Tonight, I board a plane to head back to flat & cold, but also good people & small fuzzy animals.

I think I like this place. This isn't so much a city that you have a crush on, someplace impossible like Portland or NYC, but rather, a place you can live. (there was sunshine this morning and fresh air - - I felt like I haven't had a morning like that for literally seven months... which may be simply true). Good stuff. :)

Onward.

Times you wish...

...that you wish that you had a moment recorder/ video camera / voice recorder.. The street performer who filled up the block of 17th & Wazee, singing Sam Cooke & Otis & making eye contact and smiling....

Things to do in Denver when you're not dead yet...

Denver's lovely. Not knowing what to expect, Denver's lovely.

Denver is:
- A hustling and bustling metropolis! With an actual usable ped-mall, free shuttles up and down it's downtown, and restaurants... so many restaurants
- A nice city - friendly & unpretentious
- A midwestern city, but also a 'middle-western' city. People care less as you head west (i.e. more laidback, don't have their noses up in everyone's business, literally don't care in a very nice and friendly/accepting way), and that's nice to see.
- A relaxing city.. at least so far, and at least when you're staying downtown (and are from out of town)

I've gotten to play planner/lead a bit so far. Sunday night involved boarding a shuttle, helping a gal from Columbus OH with no cash get to where she needed to go (It all worked out fine), and then crashing (with the help of Museum friends) the "Shipper's Party". This conference is open to every museum in the United States, and museums in the United States need to ship things. There was a lot of museum-folk-wooing going on. This was also our first encounter with Finnte, a 70 something Finnish man who just wants to sit and buy drinks for "charming ladies". He's like your rich, well-manicured foreign uncle - - who just wants to buy drinks for ladies. :)

We headed back to the hotel, and then followed a group of Brazilian/NYC/Japanese/French shippers to a room at the OTHER Hyatt (there's two), as our Hyatt doesn't have mini-bars. Exhaustive surrealness. We bailed quickly.

Monday, we slept in. And after a rehabilitating breakfast at "The Delectable Egg" (and they were), Steph and I decided to rent a car (fancy hotel concierge's are amazing!), and drive to LookOut Mountain (where we indeed looked out), Buffalo Bill's Grave (ahhh...), Red Rocks (which was stunning), and then Boulder. Boulder's like Iowa City, but on richer, cosmopolitan happy pills. Everyone's relaxed. The homeless, of which there are many, are relaxed. The college students are relaxed. The rich, who support the beautiful boutiques that line Pearl Street, are relaxed. The only people who aren't relaxed are the Tourists, who don't know how to process this much beautiful bustling leisure, next to so many mountains. We ate cheap bountiful sushi, and drove our rent-a-car home.

I love driving. I love driving in places I've never been. Our poor little Chevy Aveo had a hell of a time freeways traveling up mountains (there's no air up here, to support it's poor four cylinders). If I can drive it, I can take the time to see it, and know it. Weird.

Then, I disappeared to my friend Becky's house. Becky moved to Mpls before I did; she's now fallen in love with Denver. There are reasons to fall in love with this place. It's predictable but... Hey look - - nature! Fresh air! Things! I haven't felt this close to the outdoors in years. There hasn't been the chance for it, and I miss it.

We caught up, and there's a certain woman in NYC I need to get ahold of very soon.

Becky has a silly husband who makes me laugh, a dog who is good, a cat (that I remember her getting in college.. who is now 13. errrrgh), a beautiful house.. and finally, a scooter. Her grandmother passed away last year, and Beck used some of the money for a beautiful orange scooter named Buddy. Becky scooted me around. Scooters are flipping brilliant.

Becky sometimes talks in superlatives, which makes me laugh. Unbelievably good to see old friends, and good to see them doing good. :)

And then, back to hotel, hanging out for a bit, and sleep.

Very lucky. Very very lucky. I like Denver. I like concierges. I like walking. I like breakfast. Today will be my first foray into the conference itself. Time to put on a game face, and go get some caffeine. 1,000s & 1,000s of people are attending this ginormous thing, and I supposed to go get lost in them now. We're hoping there's time tomorrow, pre-flight, to take in the Denver Botanical gardens. And I just want to go look at some more mountains.

Last night involved weird dreams about people I know and mattresses.

Onward.

Just...

Landed at the Denver airport at sunset... With the light and mountains and the flatness and the strange low biuldings and light towers, it feels like i've landed on tatooine.

Blame canada

Back at the MSP airport, in the undeveloped wing (i.e. The poor United gates) In airports, all women look prettier and all men seem creepy. Apologies!

There's a lot of volleyball players here today.

Loveliest of mornings, following the loveliest of evenings. Stitch n' Bitch had our last evening (this show collected the strangest of, most varied of, but generally happy, audiences.. Never knew how they would react.. However, they crafted some beautiful projects..:)). Then got treated to dinner and was taken care of and... It was just wonderful.

I'm off to Denver, and possibly wanting a beer. Everything's so grey, and for as much complaining as I've done about Mpls of late, parts of me wanna just stay in the midwest and watch things get green. But Denver should be cool.. No idea what to expect, except that college friend/Denver resident Becky cooks really well. And I hear there's visible topography.

Happy Sunday!

Onward..

how weird is life?

Life is weird.

Science Museum, onto a run to Trader Joe's for housesitter supplies. At Trader Joe's, I was told (prefaced with "I hope you find this a compliment"), that I reminded the check out clerk (Trevor) of Coco from Flight of the Conchords. I took it as a total compliment. My sister, after hearing this, got silent for a little bit, and said, "well... um". Yes - - Coco ain't no Heidi Klum, but I will take that compliment dammit. It made me smile all the way to:

Stitch n' Bitch! W00t! Good show! And good hangin' out afterwards. (Yea for Matt Foster! Who is from Pierre, SD! yeaaaaa! And he went to USD... jesus. And did Future Problem Solvers, which is sort of a NE, SD, Iowa thing... teeee!) I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and post-show tomorrow.

Played piano for the first time at Neutrino. It was fun. I spent most of the time with my mouth wide open. God bless Fred for saying the word "leitmotif". And god bless Corey for choosing to play in C. It was actually "What chord would Corey choose if sitting down at the piano?", and it ended up being C, which Corey actively chose. YEA COREY! Awesome. :)

Guess who was there? NELS and SENIZ! Do you know how good that is? It's pretty damn amazing. :)

Then to Restaurant Miami, which made me laugh. Yea for crappy theme restaurant/bars with the seems showing. I have no urge to dress up for Restaurant Miami... it felt almost as comfortable as the Green Mill, but the for the weird undercurrent of people who don't quite fit in at the Independent. Funny.

Watched a friend play a bar game (after being approached by a young gentleman), which makes me hella uncomfortable. This is probably why I suck at these things, and don't actively seek them out. Felt weird and a little sad about watching the whole thing.

'Driving home, I gave $5 to the guy at the Dowling Ave exit, who rocks actively out on his cardboard guitar. We had a super happy friendly conversation, and I found out that he watches out for people at the Dowling Ave exit (tells them if a cop's around the corner, tells them to turn their head lights on). That was nice. It made me happy, and seemed to make him happy (he's just a pretty happy dude), and I felt better, as there didn't seem to be any pretense to our conversation. Unlike the bar game. Anywhoo, if you're at Restaurant Miami, and some guy named Steve (from Rochester, by way of L.A.) tries to talk to you, please know that I like Steve, and was a bit sad to see him kinda.. toyed with. But it's probably what he does too. Super weird.

Onward to Science and Stitch and Saturday. Again, I've been looking forward to Saturday.

Um. It's snowing out. It's bullshit, I know. But of course it's snowing out. Why wouldn't it be?

There's a 17 lb. cat on my lap, which makes me smile. :)

Onward.

Aha! Proof!

A few other pictures here also... Better pictures (and actually finishing the painting) to come soon. Yea! Off to bed, now..

Onward.

well... that was dumb...

So.. Wednesday night was lovely. Got to see Partner in Crime. We went to the Red Dragon (can you see all those red flags?? Why did I decide to ignore red flags??) We each had four potstickers and one and half Wondrous Punches. (Listen to the sirens! Look at the bomb shelter signs) In the midst of inhaling said one and a half Wondrous Punches, Drew and I had fabulous conversation, got asked to be in a fight, I found myself in a drunken, cute hipster guy sandwich, and got told I had a French nose. (I still don't know what they means. I assume big.)

I drove home, took a bath, attempted human-things, and passed out in my house coat in bed.

This morning sucked. owwwwww... All those plans of getting stuff done blown out the window, as I took two more bathes (Bathes = feel better), attempted to eat/drink, attempted to relax my body (lay down! be warm!), and emptied my stomach.

It all ended around 4 p.m., in a Lunds parking lot in Hopkins. Some poor 5th grader now has a gross story to tell his mom when she got back to the car. Hopefully, he thought I was possibly pregnant or undergoing chemo, something honorable vs. the dumb truth.

I did get some stuff done! Went to Old Log, took pictures of the "Forever Plaid" boys (that was fun. They are a cute and catty group of boys.). 'Got Pickles a haircut (he looks very dashing). 'Got to rehearse with Josh and Ellie, which was a blast. And finally, and bestest, got to eat dinner with Ellie. :) Successfully held down a chicken burrito and girl conversation. Absolute loveliness! (No breakfast or lunch, but my calorie count is still tip top for today!)

My roomie's cat is out and about in the house. We're all dealing. I like the cat quite a bit, except when there's attacking going on. We're (Pickles, Sebastian and myself) all a bit paranoid, cuz this seems to scare all of us uniformly.

Last weekend of Stitch n' Bitch! 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Bryant Lake Bowl - - good stuff! Also, Friday night, I'll be playing piano for Neutrino, 10:30 p.m. at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Neutrino's brilliant (improvised movie madness!); please ignore my underscoring.

My dad passed away a year ago (4/23/07). It's so strange. I wasn't sure whether to call my mom or sister, nor was I sure what to say. I didn't reach either of them. It still feels like I should be able to call him. I never want that feeling to go away.

Last thing.. I almost have a bedroom now. Photos soon to be posted. It stinks of thrift store glory and blue paint. mmmmmmmmmm... yum.

Good luck and good weekend! :)

Onward.

oh man... Happy Earth Day/Depression Day...

Here's the link

The text of the blog follows at the bottom.

I just checked with my boss (my version of fact checking) and she went "yep.. that's what my Greenpeace magazine told me too". Well - - whether it's 100% true or not... I have no problem with eating tasty tasty animals; my beef (ha!) is how big ol' corporate 'grow 'em and chop 'em up' places treat the animals. Having grown up in the town with the nation's largest stockyards west of the Mississippi, which is currently home to a number of beef/pork/chicken processing plants, it's not pretty (and often not pretty how they treat their workers either).

Anywhoo, my resolution is to try and eat only animals that are either locally/humanely raised & killed (they taste better anyway). This also includes hunting - - sorry, Bambi: you're delicious, and hopefully had a fine life, living off of tilled corn fields and the like, and hopefully had a very short death (which actually makes the meat taste better too.. You kill a deer the right way - when it's just chillin', not running for it's life - and there's less toxins/go juice in the blood. A freaked out deer does not a tasty meal make... Why did I just write that? To make my deer hunting Uncle Craig proud, that's why..)

I've been taking a lot of meat out of my diet the last four months, as meat is expensive and I am poor. However, beans, nuts and cage-free eggs (compared to meat prices) are cheap and delicious. This shall be my moral backing for my financial decision, so that I can hold my superiority over the heads of my friends. Dear lord.

My downfall may be Chicago-style hot dogs.

The blog follows..

Onward!

********************************************

Shouldn't Every Day Be "Don't Eat Animals Day?"

Happy Earth Day. Remember that the single most important thing you can do to save the planet is to eliminate or significantly reduce your meat consumption (yes, birds and fish included).

Food for thought:

- A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined.

- Only 10% of the oceans' big fish population remains, the other 90% wiped out mostly by industrial fishing.

- Because it takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of animal flesh, using 1 acre of land to raise cattle for slaughter yields only 20 pounds of edible protein. If soybeans were grown instead, that 1 acre would yield 356 pounds of edible protein.

Now that green is officially the new black, I'm hopeful more people will discover how serious an impact the meat industry is making on our environment. Pathetically, world hunger still plagues our planet--people are starving to death in Haiti, just 600 miles off the coast of Florida--but if mankind simply ceased slaughtering animals for food, world hunger would cease to exist.

I just..

Got kinda mobbed by a group from a group home for physically challenged folks. The group leader, instead of asking if they could have my seat, strangely passive-aggressively, surrounded me with the group (who were fine-- it was just that I was a single person, alone, and got surrounded unexpectedly by a group of strangers) and stood. I asked if they wanted my chair. She said, "if you're done..".

People. Seriously. It feels like I got weirdly bullied. My chair was obviously wanted, why didn't she just ask me? Instead, it was like she was some strange puppet master.. moving her group to surround things she wants.. (cheesecake.. cars... possible presidential nominations)

I'm now sitting 50 feet away, in one of 20 empty seats in the lobby. which would have fit her group fine. WEIRD.

Powerfully played, weird puppet master group home lady. You now have the comfy seats with the view of the river. Please use your powers for good.

Onward.

What the?

I got my first Victoria's Secret catalog in the mail. I didn't order it. It just showed up. I thought this only happened to boys.

Even though, I guess, I'm its intended target (i.e. a girl who wears underwear), I can't separate the catalog from what I perceive its intended target to be (i.e. boys who like looking at girls in underwear... pouting.. or looking really happy.. or more pouting.. or looking 15.. aghhh!)

I've tried to look at it from the "They're supposed to sell good sweaters" vantage point, but it doesn't help. It's summer, there are no sweaters, and their underwear is crap. (Ask most girls. VS underwear falls apart. Not in that sexy way, but rather in that "I paid $34 for a bra three months ago way")

I don't know what to do with this magazine. My urge is to keep it in the bathroom, as that's where I've seen Victoria's Secret catalogs mostly stored - - mostly in guy's places. I generally don't see VS catalogs in girl's places.

I feel like someone's trying to out me.

"Sexy little bride" underwear? It actually says "sexy LITTLE bride" - - aghhh! Is the bride marrying a 40 year old? There seems to be a bevy of hand mirrors in the creepy wedding section. Are hand mirrors sexy? One teddy in the wedding section, is actually just an apron with lace on it... aghhh!!! (granted, this would be kinda cool if it was done in an ironic way. i.e. I was born in 1975. However, I don't think there's much irony running through the brains of a VS marketing exec.)

I think this will end up in the recycling bin. This is unlike the Consumer Reports that arrive a week ago. Dangit. Typing that sentence made me feel incredibly unsexy, but maybe knowing what refrigerator is most energy-effecient is sexy to someone.

Anywhoo, I'm gonna do something empowering like exercise, wear my own damn cute underwear, and treat myself like a girl, and hopefully come out smelling like roses - - sexy roses, not creepy quasi-porn boudouire stank.

Or I might just be getting old. And that's okay too.

Onward.

Bittersweet and tired...

Lovely day. Beautiful weather. Very lovely.

Me and four young improv chaps couldn't handle being inside (as Andrew kept putting it, "Let's just sit and tell stories"), and so, we spent the last 15 minutes of improv rehearsal hanging from playground equipment. That was good. That was really good. (Did you know that the play equipment at Jefferson Elementary sits upon tons of chopped up tires? It does! It's brilliant! And bouncy. Good stuff.)

The difference between age groups from 12 - 18 is just amazing.

IFSGWIS rehearsal, which was also just excellent, and then a bit of Improv A Go Go. Yeaaa!

Then to Kari Ann's, who I haven't seen in... months... to see old friends that we used to see every five days, but now only see in... months. Aghhhh... I don't know if I'm tired, or if having to sleep in a different room is stressin' me out, or the bittersweetness of change, or just taking in the last 48 hours (which have been wonderful, just... taking it in), but... It was hard to work up abandon. I felt reserved and loved and sad seeing old friends. Agh. When I should just feel blissed out. ah well..

A plus: s'mores. Kari Ann made a bonfire, Megan brought fixin's for s'mores. I am growing into a marshmallow fiend in my old age.

Tomorrow, I hope, promises to be lovely. It should actually be pretty darn fun. Right? Right.

Onward.

When time stretches out, sometimes it's nice...

It's Sunday! Wasn't yesterday a lifetime ago? Yes it was!

Woke up with the animals yesterday, and began to move. I moved my full-size bed into the eensy room upstairs. I moved almost everything else either into this eensy room, or into the poor unused (and slightly trashed) big bedroom upstairs. My new bedroom is blue and claustrophobic. I just need to do some arranging, so that it's blue and cute. This difference is possible!

Good Stitch n' Bitch last night. Again, some beautiful crafting projects in the audience. :) Sold out, good show, and some of my favorite people in the world were there.

Ate dinner at Rainbow Chinese afterwards (delicious), and kinda messed up the possibility of going out (phone was turned off.. em). However, a lovelylovely evening was had. Seriously lovely.

I'm gonna go see if I can track down those I missed last night. I'm gonna go use my new fixed bathroom and go to improv. I'm gonna get done with improv around 7 p.m.. These things may be true.

Roomie has almost moved in! Huzzah!

Onward.

Anxiety dream about not being funny... amongst other things...

Ridiculous. Many more things to have anxiety dreams about.

Have had a conversation recently that brought up a couple things that I haven't done, or didn't get a chance to do, or lost the chance to do, and, at least when I'm all healthy and perspective-filled, I truly don't really care. There's better things around the corner. However, my wounded ego from.. six?.. years ago is still not all healed up, I guess. Ridiculous. Sooo... good, I guess, for this stuff to be dug up and dealt with; crappy to have anxiety dreams about it, however. (ooooh! The situation in the dream was so no fair!)

Good Stitch n' Bitch last night! Lovely! The audience is about 90% women, which a) makes us all giggle a little, b) makes sense, c) is smart, as I imagine its usually the girl who brings the boy to theater, in the general theater-going public. Looking forward to tonight.

Cast party at Laura's house, which was beautiful. And she fed us. She more than fed us. Grilled pork, and deviled eggs, and cupcakes, and veggies, and crab-creamcheese and why do I suddenly have a tummy ache warming up for the Adorable set?

Speaking of, yeaaaa Adorable!! We lost, but... Adorable!!! Weird set, and fun. Some okay moments, some goooood moments, and I can't wait 'til next rehearsal. Plus, it was awesome to just see Jill... a pretty darn satisfying night. (Followed by hangin' at the BNW, then hanging at the OC, and then tricking myself into sleeping)

Time to go blow my animals' minds. I'm moving the bed into the tiny room this morning. Lacey moves in around 2 p.m.. I go to work at 12noon. If I get this done around 10:30 a.m., there will be more exercising stuff, and that would be brilliant.

Have fun - - it's Saturday.

Onward.

back tired, eyes tired, belly hungry...

How long does it take rice to cook? About four hours, when the "curry" you've made went together in about five minutes. The two-week-ish old tofu that I threw in sort of disintegrated... I'm not sure whether to be worried or not... aha! The rice cooker has popped!! Moment, please... Curried tofu & mushrooms with chili paste on rice. Happy.

'Went out last night, which was incredibly wonderful. Yea for birthdays which are not mine.. ;) I wore high-heels. I have only one pair of high heels that I can actually wear as real shoes. I can walk in them successfully and comfortably, which means I walk head up, boobs out, and with a swagger. Which is what they're designed to do. They make me feel like, just maybe, I work at Macy's. They also make me feel a bit on edge - - I'm not successful enough to wear these shoes. I should carry cash in my wallet, wearing these shoes. I could be mugged, wearing these shoes. (who ya gonna mug? The gal in the chuck taylors - who can run, balance, and have traction - or the gal in the heels, who just might be leasing a white Jetta?)

So, I guess I'm doing a show Friday and Saturday. It's always funny going back to a scripted show after a week. Bwaha! Full day at the Museum today - - my fuel is Target trail mix.

My new shiny roomie moves in this weekend. Yeaa! Someone to see all my strangeness, and put up with it hopefully, and vice versa. In a week and two days, my boss and I zoom to Denver CO (a place I have never been), to try and convince other museum professionals that plays about things too tiny to see are gooood.

I am having Fruity Pebbles for dessert. Fruity Pebbles are oddly beautiful. Like someone dehydrated a circus. Pixelated dried circus - that's Fruity Pebbles.

There is organized Yoga tonight!!! I am sore and stiff (Microsoft Word, a program I usually have a fine relationship with, made sure of that), and this should be an interesting class. owowowow... Hopefully. :)

Onward.

Well... damn.

I need to go deposit a check and prepare for tonight, which should be fine.

Long days at the Museum are a bit strange, as it blurs into the nothingness of office stuff, going outside of a bit, and then suddenly, you're all upset on stage. Or, you're all outgoing on stage. Or, you're a screaming puppet on stage. And then it's back to blur.

Six Ring last night was lovely. Huzzah all!

Lame-o blog. Buttt..., please check out Stitch, Bitch n' Die this weekend, Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. at the BLB - it's funn! - ANNNND - - PUNCH OUT! 11 p.m.! Friday! Brave New Workshop! We're scheduled to make Jill Bernard cry in her hot pants. (or possibly have our hoo's punched in.. just sayin')

And if you have any urge to come to a public Forum to learn about Nanoscale technology in May, my god, do I have a deal for you.

Onward.

Goooo, Skirt Turtles.. and blurring into a Tuesday..

Through the magic of the internet, I have learned that the Skirt Turtles (the BNW softball team) technically won their first game! Awesome!!! (...I hope we can practice.. er, at least, I hope I can practice with other people. I'm excited - - For me, organized sports has always ranked up there with organized religion - - I'm unequipped for both, but will fake it if need be. I want to be a contributing member of the Skirt Turtles!! At least enough to prove I indeed have no business on a field..) Looking forward to the next game - - I'm gonna wear a hat! Excitement!!

Shot in Forest Lake last night. Forest Lake amazes me, cuz it's so damn out there. It's a third of the way to Duluth. Which made me think of Duluth. Which made me think "Why haven't I been to Duluth lately?" or "Why haven't I visited the Northern Shore?" If I am skipping dodge (i.e. possibly leaving Minnesota), I should probably see the geological stuff that makes this place supposedly worthy of all the hoopla. The idea of traveling with a bud is most appealing (yea!), but also, the idea of traveling alone is pretty sweet too. (I'm very comfortable in the cities... and I'm not much of a camper.. However, I do own a tent. hrm. I hope I don't die.)

I love the Urban Mountain boys. They rock soo much. We filmed in one of their parents' house: they totally spoiled us - - "Would you guys like some pizza? I baked some cookies" (The cookies were mocha chip! MOCHA CHIP!) It was like a sleep over, it was like high school, but wayyyyy nicer than any of my friends' places in high school. Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Watched a bit of footage last night... I watched myself get terrorized. Feel pretty good about how I did, and weird about how I look. Crumpling my face into horrified positions does not a pretty girl make. May have to learn how to make horrified faces while remaining girly. *grin... ewww* And then I'll hit the big time!! What you hear crumpling is a couple decades of feminist theory... As long as I can look pretty while being a victim, it's a'okay! (double ewww) There's a whole can of Women's Studies 101 this could spill into. pah.

Onto the museum. Hoping it's good.

Onward.

well.. um...

I woke up with the animals this morning, simply bent on starting and finishing my taxes. I worried that I may need to skip Six Ring tomorrow. I've fussed over this process (in my mind) for the last.. 12 months.

I started around 7:30 a.m.

I stopped when Pogi came over to look at the house.

I finished around 1:30 p.m.

They're done. No shrieking bats. No sirens. No government men busting down my door.

Just me in dirty clothes, wondering what should happen next.

In a slow thoughtless haze, I then proceeded to almost finish painting the bedroom, another process that I've dreaded in my mind, just to prove it can be done.

Huh. Is this how you get things done? I know I've struggled over stuff before (2006 taxes being a prime example..) but.. I shan't complain.

Watched "Eagle vs. Shark" while attempting "exercise" (the really really slow running may have to start soon). Is New Zealand realllly like that? All thrift store clothes and awkwardness? It was a fine movie, and mediocre enough to make me want to make a Mpls version of it (nobody take my idea.. ;) ). Some sweet funny lines, and I still love how they say "yes". (yeys)

Harry picks me up in 20 minutes to drive to FOREST LAKE.. where i will wear PAJAMAS!!.. and be a heavily breathing victim... wish me luck!

The cat is totally blissful on the porch.

Onward.

sleepy.. why blog.. becuzzzzz...

Friday Saturday Sunday whiz-banged by.

- Even though Vaudeville with a Pig did not win Punch Out, we still got to play with Tim Hellendrung, opening up for the BNW mainstage. It was lovely and short.. Fun was had. :)

- Sunday! Sleeping in... followed by - - DIM SUM!! I love me some dim sum. Good company, got to meet Pat's mom, and plates and plates of "what the hell is that?" food. Delicious!

- This is when my nose started to run. I am now allergic to spring. dammit. I never had allergies as a kid (that I remember), and now, my histamines (sp?) are in overcharge.

- I found I was carrying a soft bandana/hankerchief. It was all I had. I am now an old farmer. As questionable as I've always thought hankerchiefs to be, it worked incredibly well. ewww.. and ..yeaa!

- Visited an estate sale. I am now the proud owner of a kick ass Osterizer (it's beautiful and wants to grind things into powder) for $3, and a sparkly plastic deer for $1. And a tiny little dishwasher.

- ..taxes.

- Got to see Live Action Set's "The Piano Tuner" - - I was eeeh about going.. but it was absolutely lovely. The acting was uniformly beautiful (I love the gentleman who played the father.. and everyone else), the story was melancholy, the threats were hidden but real, the music was lovely, the ending was sad. They tell simple stories in a way that's so complicated, but yet comes off as effortless. Sad.. edges of this poor reality fraying around these lovely desperate characters. Beautifully done. So glad I went. (It would be a bear to remount, but I hope they do)

- Ridiculously good staging. I think my mom would have loved it too.

- Absolutely lovely evening followed. :) Thank you!

- (and saw my first 1.5 minutes of Rock of Love... Aghhhhhh!)

Very very lucky. Lovely Sunday.

And then.. after sleep...
- exercise
- wake up when the animals wake me up
- complete things that need to be completed by 6 p.m.
- be dressed by 12noon
- go be terrorized on film in the dark

Wish me luck in the Things That Need To Get Done.

Onward.

Wheww!! Opening opened! Hoping the second show goes good...

"Stitch, Bitch n' Die" opened last night. It did feel like congratulations!! Not so much that it got put together in under four weeks (w00t!), but rather that it actually feels like a show. A big ole' "we're doin' theatre and workin' hard for over 45 minutes" show.. and that's exciting! (It's been a while) I left the show sweaty and hungry - - awesome.

And we had knitters in our front row!! It felt like they were part of our knitting group/part of the show: the silent introverts that don't say anything and put their knitting down when something happens, and then pick it back up again when everyone else is knitting. Thanks, knitters!!

A delicious gin n' tonic with some delicious soup (from my favorite waittress person at the BLB) and then onto IMPROV PUNCH OUT! Yeaaa!!! We lost (Gay/Straight Alliance makes my toes curl with happiness), but we fought hard. I feel pretty darn good about the set.. And super awesome nice people afterwards.. yea!!

And then did a set with my team at Six Ring. By this time, my brain had started to turn to mush. I maybe shouldn't have played with them (?? I don't know - - it was fun) but they took care of me. Puppets are FUNNNNNN.

Took notes for ThunderClown and then home. Homehomehome.

- I'm eating alot of huevos rancheros lately. If there's a can of beans open, that's what I'm eating.

- My mom is getting political!!! This is kind of exciting, since we never heard much from her about this stuff growing up (we mostly got to hear about Dad's side, which was all fiscal republican, all the time) She's disgusted at how much we import from China, and is now going through her HyVee food store, looking at labels! I'm so frickin' proud (I had nothing to do with it, but I'm still proud) We also talked about the war, but we never really called it "The war"... we called it "this thing". Mom rocks.

- I almost typed "The was" vs. "The war"... that would be kinda nice, but I don't think it'll be "The was" for a while, unfortunately.. :(

- I get to have brunch tomorrow. I've been told there is brunch happening. This makes me happy.

- I just had 2 pieces of peanut butter and jelly toast. There is nothing wrong and everything right about peanut butter and jelly toast. You make think it's just an excuse to eat peanut butter and jelly, but.. no.. you know what's underneath? Toast. Toast is flippin' brilliant. Seriously...

- I've just blogged about peanut butter and jelly toast.. But I'M NOT ERASING IT. ... um... yes.

Three "Value of Life" shows at the Museum today (they're 15 minutes long, but.. you know), our second "Stitch n' Bitch" show (we're gonna do ever more better... right? right!), and maybe go open up for the BNW mainstage improv set? Doug can't do it, so Tim asked if Vaudeville would be interested in joining him. Um.. yes. I kinda feel like I shot my improv wad, but let's just get back on the horse, Jen.

Onward.

It's nice to see...

- I shouldn't try to use big words, unless I know how to spell them.

- oy, this morning was questionable... But it all worked out.. I'm letting things go.

- I generally don't spend this much time at the Museum.. Microcosms (I'm just going to use that word, big and poorly spelled though it is) abound. Watching heards of people come in and out. It feels like it should all be sped up and accompanied by Phillip Glass.

- doing 5 'Value of Life' shows today.. Good lord. The director, wonderful and kind, showed up and made us unjustifyingly nervous.

- Last night's dream took place in a weird, twisted, muddy version of 'Iowa that isn't' and involved being made fun of by crazy christians (but then I got them back!) and walking through a muddy yard, around multiple cardboard veal huts, in which were full grown cows (curled upon themselves) and something that looked like a cross between a baby vulture and a shaved goat. I was trying to get to my mom, who was in this small farm-ish house, that was also a restaurant.

- so.. Those zenprov pod casts.. They're pretty good (i.e. I, too, am on the bandwagon.. Soon, the BNW will be filled with buddhists)

- Have a fine and happy weekend!

- Onward.

I'm pretending I live in Prague...

Somehow, that makes this stark and snarkness all much more artistic... I am drinking my french roast coffee, after finishing up a meal of huevos rancheros, followed by a dessert of peanut butter and jelly triscuits, just like they do in Prague all the time. I will contemplate the trap that the world is for man, and perceive that is only really escape is death. I will realize that I'm thinking something fairly Buddhist, and take it all back, and contemplate how my coffee is a grey mush brown, and how the wind whips against the house like a dying old man... I don't even know what that means. But people in Prague do!

There. Better.

Dinner at home was honestly so nice. Now it's back into the grey and smucking cold, to our final dress rehearsal. Whoop!

Onward.

A eight year kid asked me...

.. looking into the Science Live Theater, "Is your show about scary evil scientists who want to kill little kids?"

um.. yes.

The conversation ended soon after that, but we agreed that its scary.

Trixy Minnesota...

Steph and I drove out to Hanover MN yesterday to do a presentation, braving the northwest suburbs.. It ain't my country. It's incredibly convenient (EVERY CHAIN IN EXISTENCE! ALL TOGETHER! INCREDIBLE!! AND ICKY!!!.. and a cute looking grocery store called "Curry Up"). We landed at a Lutheran church in Hanover (which only one person said "hi" and introduced themselves to the strangers. Most just stared. Or, didn't even stare, just didn't care. From my limited experiences with churches, it felt kinda unchurch-like).

We were to perform and hold a short discussion of Nanoscience, as part of this Communion Classes "science and religion" section. Again, not my country. (I wasn't even baptized... my mom always meant to get around to it..) 60 8th graders. 20 parents. All from a small town in the western suburbs.

It was surreal, and I tried to picture what would be a worse situation.. and came up with "in a church, yada yada" and then opened my eyes, and had to laugh. Indeed.. we were in a church, facing an 8th grade army and their hockey-loving parents.

Dinner.. prayers.. 8th grade weirdness and.. lo and behold.. they were great. Engaged. Asked questions. One of, if not, the best audience we've ever given this presentation to. TRIXY MINNESOTA! DAMN YOU! I am a horrible judging person! DAMN YOU!

The dinner they fed us - - just cuz I haven't eaten like that in a long time - - was tacos. The taco meat smelled like school cafeteria taco meat, which was kind of awesome. They spooned the meat onto your taco (that sounds dirty) with a spatula. There was probably 3/4 lb of taco meat on my plate. I don't eat much meat now of days. My tummy had no idea what to do. Mild salsa. Cheese. And kool aid. These were the tacos of my childhood, minus the kool aid.

Drove back, headed to the BLB (on time! YEAAAA! Thank you!) and we had our first dress rehearsal. It's funny what being on a stage in costumes can do... I'm not used to rehearsing on real stages with stage lights and everything else - - I'm used to green rooms and living rooms, or here at the museum, a flat piece of floor with everyone watching. Yea for those magical theater things.

It's Thursday. Stitch n' Bitch opens tomorrow. And then life breathes a little, even if I can't. (Finish your taxes! Remodel that room! Fix your sink! Fix the kitchen ceiling! Now go to Denver..) If all of that stuff happens, which I completely doubt, that would be awesome. But there may be some serious down time first..


Onward. :)

I had told myself that I didn't believe in summer or spring, and that seemed to help me get through the craptastic weather of 07-08. However, it's not ending. The little lie I told myself is going true... ahhh... dammit. I hope we have a nice summer... whenever it comes.

Sometime soon here, I'm gonna need to make some actual decisions about stuff I want. I will try and make these decisions when I'm not down in the doldrums, but rather when I'm all hopped up on perspective. Deal? Deal. Those decisions will then be AWESOME, rather than turd-sucking-esque. Right? Deal.

'Got to sleep in today, which was really really nice. Time to put some clothes on, take the garbage out, and do the things I've been avoiding. Ahhh... adulthood and finances. DO IT!

Then to work, to Hanover MN, to rehearsal, and then hopefully to someplace nice.

Onward.

Go paint, lady....

Yes. I should get off my butt. But just sitting and going blahhh for a little bit is nice too.

Did a bit of filming last night, in the alley behind the Brave New Workshop. It was excellent, Harry rocks, the whole team rocks. It was "acting-by-heavy-breathing" (not that sort of breathing... dirty people) - - I hope it looks good. It may just be me, making horrible hopefully-scared-looking faces, running, and breathing heavily. We shall see. It was still fun.

And chilly! My god. Not the 'we're all going to break into tiny blocks of ice' freezing, but that slow sort of creep that sits down into your bones and waits. Bah. It's still there. I love my space heater. I love my electric blanket.

Onto Pepito's for miss Lauren Anderson's b-day!!! How awesome is that?! It WAS awesome... good times, good people, I love me a margarita (and Mike tried mole'... hi mike! I want to try and replicate some mole.. there's mixes at Cub... Mike, if you want to attempt some at-home mole, please let me know.. All else fails, it will just be chicken and chocolate, and that's fine too) :)

Talked to my sister. My sister actually gives damn good advice, but I'm not sure how I feel about this advice yet.

"Stitch n' Bitch.." opens this Friday. It's almost a show! Excitement! I can also officially drink out of a wine box, fairly successfully. It is fairly satisfying - - you actually feel somewhat accomplished. Science Museum and a little bit of sleeping in, maybe. After one hour of actual painting and then bed. Deal? Deal.

Onward.

Short one...

Just got done with a teaching thing. Kids were nice and smart, even if I was trepidatious going in. It ended up being one of those "The kids are teaching me" sort of things.

There was a kid named Micheal who was possibly.. mentally handicapped? It took me a long while to figure out that a lot of noise and action cause Micheal to talk or explode out when others are talking. I don't blame him - - it's a lot to handle. It took me just a little while to see how his classmates totally took care of him. He was part of the class, and there was no exception. Almost like family. How about those kids? Seriously. Awesome.

Micheal kept talking while I was, and exploding out (which was harmless, just loud) and I was rolling with it, and finally, (when walking in space), Micheal went for my hand. Micheal's brilliant. He was suddenly quiet and calmed. It was so nice just to hold hands with him, and it was so simple. Nice to have the contact too. I realized how dumb I was, not realizing this sooner, and not realizing that lots of movement and lots of noise would be a lot to take in. We held hands the rest of class. Micheal called me a nice lady and gave me a hug afterwards. I should have included him in the activities more - - But... holding hands was what was needed. And it was nice.

So, thank you, Micheal.

Onward.

Well, yes - - of course it's snowing...

Time to do some stuff before I have to go teach. And then take part in a meeting. And then go to a shoot. Really, not too bad of a day, hopefully, just... it's odd having a teaching thing at 1:45 p.m..

Cocktail party was lovely. I got taught how to make the 'schwa' sound in French. Aha! Met people from far away lands, and was shown pictures of the French Foreign Minister's new incredibly beautiful wife. She is new and INCREDIBLY beautiful.

Drinks with Sue were great. The Muddy Pig is a damn fine place, and please have A.J. take care of you. One of the finest bar server peeps around. He only works 3 days a week. He makes damn good money. He knows his whiskeys (whiskys, if you're Canuck). Sue let me blather... it was very very nice.

Almost fell asleep on way home. arrrgh

My mom left me the funniest voicemail message of "The humans are dead... the humans are dead". She got Flight of the Conchords on her Netflix. She likes the music, and finds the characters "incredibly dorky".. but funny. I might have the hippest mom in the world.

Would have slept in, except for the very on-time Centerpoint Energy dude. I actually am starting to get water in my basement already. *sigh* Time to clean and exercise, and digest my egg and tofu breakfast (eggs and tofu! Delish!)

Onward.

RUN, RABBIT!!!

I'm a sleepy kitty. Er.. maybe not sleepy. Maybe just.. movin'. Sleep when the weekends over, which is a lovely thing to say.

- Stitch n' Bitch rehearsal! Yea! Followed up by beer & Venture Brothers with Kevin! Evening of best awesomeness.

- Saturday morning Stitch n' Bitch, followed up by work at the Museum, followed up by being able to go home (w00t!) and chill for a while. Mistake made - - I thought I got to relax, pick up Partner in Crime, pick up Clarence, and attend a work party. Foolish Jen. Call from poor Bingo stage manager, and 30 tense minutes later, I was suddenly on stage at Bingo. ... It was, actually, a good show.

- Onto work party. A delight. Good peeps, good wine, good food. I give Steph her 'Flight of the Conchords'-obsessed Bust magazine (have you seen the latest Bust?? Seriously. I am the 13 year old I never was... *sigh*), and we watch some YouTube. Welcome to parties in the 21st century.

- 7:30 a.m. Sunday movie shoot. I am late. :( Harry is awesome, and gets me out of there around 9 a.m.. Race to Stitch n' Bitch rehearsal - yea! Drive to Indian Food with Jim and Dennis (and Sarah and Joe! YEAAAA). Now I'm at the Workshop, ready for some kid awesomeness (it's a performance day). Then onto Adorable rehearsal. And then onto a cocktail party, where I might hear some french. Then onto Sue's.

- Monday kinda looks like it might be a little more of the same. All good stuff... just.. whew. Can't complain when there's a lot of it. But 6:45 a.m. this morning will be paid for tonight. When it rains...

- Onward.. :)

Got eaten by the week...

Yes. The week went and swallowed me whole.

- Last performance for my Anoka girls' group. They did awesomely, and were amazingly comfortable on stage. The head of Children's Mental Health for Anoka County brought everyone roses. As a girl who never received flowers after doing a show until I was in my 20s, that was pretty darn awesome to me.

- We had a Forum about Nanoscale technology! The catering arrived! This happened within a hour of the girls' group performance. Thinking of these two things together still makes my shoulders tense.

- I scrambled. I ran. I could only spend a singular amount of time on each thing, cuz everything else needed to be done.

- Steph and I did a mini-forum on Nanoscale bit, in which we both acted and moderated. That... is exhausting.

- I got my haircut (which was lovely). Still not sure. We'll see.

- I only get my haircut when my eyebrows are doing strange things. This causes my stylist to offer waxing services on a semi-regular basis. I know she's just cookin' up business for her friend, but... c'mon.

- Six Ring Circus! We did puppets! Bwahahahaha! Very pleased. Very happy. Very indulgent.

- Tina was there with her kids, and I didn't even recognize her at first. I guess it's been five months since we've last seen each other. It was wonderful to see her, and see her out of context! teee!

- The education dept at the Museum had a snackster party, which is all shades of brilliant. Basically, it's those mini-1970's-sandwich makers. Everyone brought different fillings, and snacking seriously happened. Nutella, marshmellow fluff, bananas, chocolate chips and white bread is brilliant.

- Rehearsal tonight. Party tomorrow. I'm late on my mortgage, and that sort of blows. Travels coming up, and that's kind of nice. Gonna see if I can sneak out of the museum after my Value of Life nazi shows, and do things like exercise, eat, memorize, and maybe stop by a thrift store. Cuz I'm broke and late on mortgage, which means I should spend! Lame. Thanks, America.

- The theme for today is recovery. This began last night, when I got taken care of a bit, and fed soup. Tonight, I might have a beverage. ...w00t.

- Onward.