Not Mandatory

11:19 am - Writer's Block: My Ideal Life Ten Years from Now…

08:02 am

Here we go! (You'll have to sit through a brief, cheesy local commercial.)

10:52 pm

Just found out that my deaf-mute neighbour's cat is the one who alerted her to the burning building and totally saved her life.

Nice job, Eartha Kitt the cat!

It was on ABC4 news tonight; if they ever post it on their dumb website, I'll link it here.

03:03 pm - A waste of gunpowder and sky...

At about 2:00 AM we awoke to a faint knocking sound. What seemed like immediately after, Darren alerted me that the duplex across the street was burning.

That's the duplex in which resides the mute tranny who bequeathed Socks unto us. The tranny and her mom, who is on oxygen.

The fire seemed to have started on the roof; my guess is some douchebag's illegal M-80 got lodged in the AC unit and sparked with the hyperoxygenated air. I have no idea if that's true, but...Occham's Razor. Darren overheard people saying that Tranny and OxygenMom were both okay, just going to hospital for observation. A relief. He also said to me, "Maybe it's a good thing we took Socks."

There were several fire/pumper trucks and an ambulance in waiting. This is not the kind of light show one wants to see on Independence Day. Socks, possibly sensing that his boyhood home was up in smoke, sat in our bedroom window, glued the proceedings. I would know when he jumped down from the sill that the last of the EVs had gone, and I could try to sleep.

Three of our colony cats dropped by during the mess, to prove they were not dead of smoke inhalation. I prayed that we'd see the rest of our regular guys at breakfast in 2.5 hours.

We would.

At that time, it occurred to me to look for the two cats who reside with Tranny. They were on their porch, looking confused. Alive. Okay.

I brought them some breakfast.

See why I hate consumer fireworks?

10:13 pm

Happy Canada Day, where applicable.

I haven't forgotten you!

Current Mood: detached

12:47 pm

Ever find yourself hunting down new disasters, as if it's better to Collect Them All! than to just clean up your existing disasters?

Okay. How about making cryptic LJ posts because you are too proud to get into the concrete specifics of what's eating you?

Current Mood: crazy

01:16 pm

I had a whole big thing prepared about Michael Jackson, and fame, and how fame screws people up, and how dumb a goal it is to value or pursue, let alone having it foisted on you by parents, industry reps, and the world at large.

I had a whole big thing.

Then, on my lunch, I decided to walk to the downtown Albertson’s for a burrito and a mini-ice cream. In the parking lot, some dude pulled up to me in his car, recognized me from OBT, and requested an autograph on his arm. I even had sunglasses on!

That’s two recognitions in the last week or so. Clearly I am no longer obscure enough to write about this topic objectively.

12:41 pm

If you're at the Utah Arts Festival this Sunday, I'll be there with Laughing Stock Improv at about 6:00. Also doing the 10 o'clock show at OBT on Saturday night, and "Utahoma!" is still running.

I'm still in rehearsals or shows darn near every night, so...yeah. That's why I don't exist in my real life at all right now.

I am indeed going to Jersey in August. I found an understudy for the shows I'll miss. Ironically, she's the real-life sister of the actress who's playing my twin.

...buh. Back to work.

Current Mood: see above

11:35 am

Lately I'd been dreaming of the Shore a whole lot.

Nana phoned my parents over the weekend with the announcement that Krugie's ashes are to be scattered sometime in August, probably right in the middle of the month.

I e-mailed my director for "Pirates" and she said if I find an understudy to cover the dates I'll be gone, all is cool.

Since dates are presently soft, I haven't yet facebooked every actress I know about this, but if anybody can think of additional possibilities for me to contact (soprano and already familiar with the score would be preferred), I'd be forever in your debt.

Thanks.

Current Mood: blah

12:17 pm - Tech WEAK

Well, I've been largely AWOL from LJ, FB, and real social life because I've been rehearsing two shows. Tonight's the end of tech week, and we open tomorrow. Then I'll be performing one show and rehearsing the other, which will actually not be any easier.

Info here. You know that if you drop my name at the window, they'll cut you a break, right?

End pimpage. So anyway, miracle of miracles, I do NOT have rehearsal Saturday. I actually get to spend Dar's birthday, partially-kinda, with him. This is major. I've seen him relatively little in the last few weeks.

Um. I can't write anymore, really.

For reasons that can only be attributed to long-term grieving process/Pill quittage, I'm still experiencing some pretty major crests and troughs emotionally, and when I want something, it would appear I want it like a mofo. (We'll cite coffee and pistachios as examples; there are others.) As stated before, I feel like I'm 17 again, except when I look in the mirror. Also, apparently at 27 I have responsibilities other than choir practice.

Like right now, I have a print job to retrieve.

Current Mood: 11 out of 10

08:12 pm

For three months, I'd waited for him to pop in on a dream and tell me he was happy and okay.

Last night, finally, he showed up in my dream.

We met in the back yard where I first saw him, in about the spot where he first came to me. I felt his weight and the weird coarseness of his fur.

The message was about the same as Pixie gave me in her visits after she died in 2003:

I love you. Things are okay. I can't stick around long, but know that I'm not really gone.

Thanks, Lynx.

Current Mood: grateful

03:55 pm - Adulthood

Questions that do not, in fact, endear you to people (HANDY LIST! Clip and save!)

1. Wow, is that your NATURAL hair color?
2. How OLD are you?
3. When are you going to get MARRIED?
4. When are you going to have KIDS?
5. Is your husband PRESSURING you to have kids?
6. Are you PREGNANT yet?
7. Did you get pregnant on PURPOSE?
8. Gonna deliver NATURALLY?
9. Gonna BREASTFEED?
10. How much do you WEIGH?
11. How much MONEY do you make?
12. How much did that COST?
13. (Of anyone not white) What ARE you?
14. Are you on a DIET?
15. Are those REAL?

Note that any of the above questions can be made MORE appropriate by replacing the capitalized word with a swear word of your choosing.

And no, I'm not pregnant.

Current Mood: blah

10:40 am

Ever since Mayor Becker and Co. radically disappointed this pedestrian commuter by legalizing sidewalk cyclists downtown, I’ve been nagging my cyclist friends not to fall for it. Salt Lake’s bike community, like all our other communities, has a little bit of a predilection for righteous indignation, and a common protest I heard was “We’ll care about pedestrian safety when the motorists start caring about ours.” Charming.

Now, I’m the type to worry about the safety of everybody, whether or not they’re worried about mine. This isn't exactly altruism; mainly, it’s because I don’t like the sight of blood.

Today, I stumbled on this website, and the article on the main page bears out the only argument that might actually persuade SLC cyclists to care: riding on the sidewalks (legal or not) is considerably more dangerous for the cyclist than riding (legally) on the roadway. Obvious exceptions are granted for little kids and for those riding at walking speed, but for fitness, hobby, and commute cyclists, sidewalk/crosswalk pedaling actually puts you at more risk from…wait for it…CARS!

Anyone who’s followed the news in Utah over the last couple weeks knows this already, thanks to the recent spate of cars pulling up on the sidewalk and running over people. BicycleSafe explains why sidewalk riding puts you at risk even from drivers who manage to stay on the road.

Also offered are some tips to avoid getting doored, and a few swift kicks in the butt to anyone who still rides lightless at night. The writer busts a few more misconceptions while he's at it. I was thoroughly impressed.

ETA: Motorists should read the article, too. Helps point out the biggest bonehead things we're likely to maim a cyclist by doing.

02:10 pm

I am having the kind of day where it feels like Beavis and Butthead are in my brain, editorializing every word I hear until it all sounds like a poop joke.

Who's hosting your stream of consciousness today?

Current Mood: huh-huh

05:00 pm - Writer's Block: There Once Was a Girl from Nantucket

shaniofslut

Current Mood: fat

01:15 pm

Last night I had stomach pain, fever, and chills, with uncontrollable shivering which lasted about 45 minutes.

I called in sick today; still feel hollowed out but my fever's gone and I'm moving around on my own.

This isn't that swine thing, right? I'm one of only two people in my department at work without young kids or grandkids, so I really don't want to be blamed if the outbreak hits the company.

Current Mood: recovering

08:34 pm

We were in the car and NPR was airing a StoryCorps interview with a mother who had unexpectedly and suddenly lost her young son in a freak accident.

She described her reaction to the doctor's grim announcement -- her slumping into the wall behind her and sliding downward to the ground. It was just like when we got the call about you.

Something about this was so comforting.

Carrying the wine bottles up to the porch, I dropped one on the cement stairs and it burst, gushing out pinot noir and staining the concrete. I watched as it bled out into the earth nearby.

I cried, but it didn't feel so much like a waste.

Current Mood: calm

10:16 pm

For those curious, Pie... now hovers at around 50 pages, about 20 of which I really like. (Good thing I never committed fully to ScriptFrenzy, eh?)

Liabilities identified thus far:

• Di has no personality except for being hyper and neurotic; this is an obvious outgrowth of my effort to make her the opposite of Utah, where the play is probably set.
• Julia is too smart to reasonably be friends with everybody else.
• Elliott is the biggest wuss of all time; to be fair, he's based on about four real-life people, including me, and he might be confused as a result.
• Hard to care at all about Lucy, even for me. Ironic, given how much of Di's character arc is caring too much about Lucy. Come to think of it, hard to care about Di.

• Leonard is hilarious.
• I have thus far avoided too much physical typing of my characters, although it would help if (a) Elliott is pale; (b) Di is short; (c) Julia is really skinny; (d) Walter is bald.
• I think even Toby is a sympathetic character at this point, which took a while.

• More flashback scenes; the first one involves pants jokes and electrocution. (My idea of a meet-cute?)
• Find good home in the storyline for the naked/water scene (not quite as sexy as it sounds) and the lotion scene (nowhere NEAR as sexy as it sounds).
• Work on Di and Lucy, or kill both of them and Elliott so the other characters can get on with their lives.
• A plot wouldn't hurt.

Current Mood: blank

09:10 am - We have a winner

2002 Ford Focus SE wagon (new to us), silver (like every other car in the valley). Came with a free Third Eye Blind CD! (CD has some kind of goo on it; don't know if it plays; am nonetheless sure it sucks. Takers?)

We are pleased with the thing so far. For the first time in my life, I have an auto loan (albeit a small one), and it's a weird feeling.

Rehearsals start tonight. Eee!

Current Mood: excited

12:12 pm

Over the weekend, authorities finally caught my former improv troupemate, the bankrobber.

At Disneyland!

8:^D

~~

We picked out a car, I think. More later.