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July, 2004
July 26, 2004
Update
I
got some much needed sleep last night, nine hours. Kelly and I have made
it through tech for the kid's production, which begins tonight and runs through
Wednesday night. It's going well and they are well-behaved, just bored
between scenes. There are so many girls! Once the boys are dressed,
we have to distribute the kids between the two dressing rooms or we're packed
into the ladies' dressing room like sardines. The show itself seems to run
smoothly, not as many changes as the mainstage production, obviously.
We're just worn out because we've been doing that along with the show itself.
Tiring. I'm off Thursday and Friday, when I might actually see the
rest of my family again.
I promise I will answer emails soon. On today's agenda is bathroom cleaning, laundry and floor-sweeping. I'd better get to it.
Ta-ta!
comments?
July 21, 2004
More History
On July 21, 1861, the first battle of Bull Run (Bull Run creek at Manassas Junction, Virginia) occurred. Both Union and Confederate armies believed the war would end quickly and this battle was an eye-opening experience for inexperienced soldiers in both armies. Spectators actually rode out from Washington, D.C. to "watch the war", believing this would be the beginning and end of it. The battle ended with a Union retreat and the soldiers found their escape route blocked by the fleeing spectators. Before this point, Lincoln had recruited an army for a 90 day enlistment. The President soon learned the Union needed a larger army for a longer period of time. As usual, read This Day in History on historychannel.com for more information.
Next week, the youth production of My Fair Lady performs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. That means tech rehearsals starting tomorrow around the mainstage production. I might be mia for awhile! Don't fret, I'll be back. Vacation soon, vacation soon. That's my mantra! P.S. If any of you are waiting to hear from Kelly, that might be a long time coming as well. I don't think she'll have a full day off until at least August 2nd.
Over and out...
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July 20, 2004
The Eagle Has Landed
photo credit
Those Were the Days, Today in History
Thirty-five years ago today, 4:18pm ET, the lunar module (built here on Long Island by Grumman) landed on the surface of the moon. I remember watching this with my family and waiting with my cousins to see the astronauts step out of the lunar module later that evening. What an amazing sight and the fact that we could be watching it live was even more astounding. I have to smile when I remember Tang and the pasta (or macaroni as we called it then) that you could buy in rocket shapes. More information about this historic day can be found here and here.
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July 19, 2004
We're still working on the pool but
we finally got the leaves cleaned up off the bottom and started putting
chemicals in today. It should look clearer tomorrow. It's taking
longer than it should because we didn't bother opening it last year and it's
taking extra work now. I cleaned the slide a few days ago and it looks
brand new. We should have the pool ready for swimming in a few days.
It looks like I will get this job in Copiague. I feel relieved about that. I wanted to have something in place before August. Even if it only lasts a couple of years (the student is going into eleventh grade), it's good for now.
I keep thinking I have so many little chores to do and don't know where to begin. I get started in the morning and don't do half of what I think I can accomplish in a day. I have to give myself a break. The two shows yesterday made for a very long day. We were all really tired the second time around. I'm back there on Thursday with Friday off before I work again Saturday and Sunday. With the tech rehearsals and doing the shows, some days I couldn't remember what day it was! That's a summer thing for me, though. Without the routine, I can lose track!
Goodnight.....
comments?
July 17, 2004
Seussical
Kelly, Kim and I saw Seussical, The Musical at Bayway this afternoon. I love this show, it's so cute. We wanted to catch it because several people who have performed at Smithtown were in this show, including Emily Vaeth (Gretl from Sound of Music), Meg O'Brien (Little Red from Into the Woods), Ashley Reyes (Marta, Sound of Music) and Danielle Zito (Maria from the youth production of Sound of Music). We also discovered that Thom Rosati was also in this show, as well as a recent West Babylon graduate who played Gertrude (my favorite character in the show) and was just wonderful! Emily was adorable. She just loves to be on stage. We have two shows of My Fair Lady tomorrow. Long day.
G'nite!
comments?
July 14, 2004
My Fair Lady
It's been a very busy week! I have signed on to work with Kelly at the theatre in Smithtown. My Fair Lady has an enormous amount of costumes and costume changes and she needs a dressing crew for this one. So, this is my summer job. Last week is a blur. I now understand why Kelly's so exhausted after tech week. Trying to learn everything in three days was difficult and we were still making adjustments to what we need to do. The show runs until August 8 and after that, I'm on vacation....literally. Bill and I will be going to Disney World.
Tomorrow night, I'm interpreting My Fair Lady. It will be strange to be out there in front. I have one thing to say. I miss Sue! I'm so glad she'll be back with me for Tapestry (rehearsals for that start today). According to Sue, the trial (she's on jury duty) might be a little ahead of schedule, which will give her some vacation, hopefully. It should be done by the end of this month/beginning of next month.
P.S. My Fair Lady is at the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts in Smithtown, NY. Phone number for tickets and information: 631-724-3700.
I finished with the program at the gym. Now it's time for me to continue on my own. In six weeks, I lost three pounds, a total of four and a half inches and reduced my body fat percentage. Weight loss will be slow because I'm building muscle, which weighs more than fat. I just have to try not to be frustrated by the numbers on the scale.
I went on an interview yesterday for an interpreting job for September. It looks good. Full-time, close to home, same pay as I got at BOCES. Not bad.
I'm hoping things will settle into a routine now so I can find time to do the other things I had planned for the summer. I'm enjoying a few days rest!
Oh, and Happy Bastille Day!
....to Pimpernel fans and others!
Take care, all,
comments?
July 7, 2004
Wicked
We saw Wicked last night. It's a
spectacular production. We wanted to see it before Kristin Chenoweth
leaves and her last day is July 18. I'm so glad we saw her and Idina
Menzel together. They're both amazing. Joel Grey was out but that
was ok. Sean McCourt is his understudy. He was the veterinarian in
the original company of Bat Boy. Having read the book, the play didn't
follow the book closely at all. Let's just say it's loosely based on the
book. Some of the characters, different story, really. Usually that
would bother me but here, it didn't.
Oh, and by the way. As we were waiting for the show to start, Hugh Jackman walked past us with his wife and sat a few rows ahead of us. It didn't look like many people approached him, although he begged off signing an autograph when leaving the show. I don't blame him. I'm sure he was heading backstage and if he started signing autographs, he never would have gotten there.
The above picture is from the official website.
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July 5, 2004
Spider-Man 2
Holy cow! I have to agree with those
who say this movie is better than the first one. The first movie was great
but it served to introduce the characters and situation. THIS movie is the
story, it just takes off. Wow. It's a nonstop ride. You get to
thinking by the middle, how much more can this poor kid take? Not to give
anything away, I recommend seeing it. I especially enjoyed Hal Sparks in
the elevator scene and all the Broadway performers, such as Donna Murphy and
Gregg Edelman.
Clay Aiken singing the national anthem for the Washington, D.C. July 4th celebration was a treat!
And last, but not least, happy birthday, Douglas Sills.
comments?
July 4, 2004
Happy 228th birthday, America!
Any
exciting plans for the day? We usually don't have any major celebrations
here because Bill has to work tonight. We'll probably barbecue something
for dinner and I'll follow my tradition of watching the patriotic celebrations
on TV in the evening. I don't know why Boston's Pops Goes the Fourth is no
longer shown on A&E television. It's on CBS now and it isn't live.
It starts at 10pm and the concert itself, according to the Pops' website, begins
at 8:30. I don't think they show the entire concert. Frustrating.
I always preferred the Boston concert to the National concert in Washington,
D.C., although Clay Aiken will be performing in Washington so I'll be watching
that one at 8pm on PBS. That's over at 9:30 so I'll be able to switch over
to whatever will be on CBS from Boston. I hate it when they mess with my
traditions. I don't watch a lot of TV. They could at least keep
things stable! Ah, well.
I have to get moving on some craft projects I have started. I started teaching Kim to crochet so she could make a baby blanket. The baby arrived the other day, I'm still working on the blanket and she's really not ready to take over. I think I'll finish this one (I'm about half done) and encourage her to practice before she begins another project like this one. I had started hand knitting a sweater for myself (fisherman knit with cables) a couple of months ago and put it aside to start swatches so I can get to work on the new Knitware program. I'd like to get back to that in the next week or so. I'll be interpreting My Fair Lady next Thursday and still need to prepare for that and then will be helping to dress the show, but only on the weekends so I should be able to get myself organized soon. Also, I have a few little projects to complete around the house, painting ceilings, mouldings and some tile repair. I'll get there. Summer's only begun.
Enjoy the fourth, all!
comments?
July 3, 2004
Welcome to July 4th weekend!
Looks
like we have a lovely weekend in store for us. The sun is shining and I
think it's supposed to hit 80. Perfect.
Today in 1863, the three-day battle of Gettysburg ended. According to history channel.com, "The largest military conflict in North American history began July 1, 1863 when Union and Confederate forces collided at Gettysburg. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia." Lee withdrew his army on the night of July 4th and the Northern army was too weak to follow. Lee never led his army into northern territory again. The battle's casualties? The Union army lost 23,000 killed, wounded or missing in action. The Confederates, 25,000. This battle was the turning point in the war.
I hope you've all updated your virus programs and have downloaded another browser (example: Firefox from mozilla.org) to protect yourselves from the latest internet problem. Unless, of course, you're using a Mac, in which case you're just laughing at all of us PC users.
Enjoy the lovely weekend.
comments?
July 1, 2004
It's July and vacation time! That's always a good thing. We have had lots of sunshiney days lately and I hope that trend continues.
This new version of the website is a year old now and I've been posting in this journal for a year this month. It doesn't seem like that long. I didn't even realize it until I updated the links for the archives pages. Thanks for reading this, my friends.
I've been updating my resume and writing cover letters this evening. It's getting late so I should follow Pooh's example...
and head off to dreamland. Good night,
all.
comments?
