November

It's really November?

I went to Barami yesterday and didn't find anything. I think I'll do a little online clothes shopping where I can shop at 2:00 in the morning and then try on the clothes in the comfort of my own home. I'll just have the hassle of returning everything by mail. I decided I didn't have time to go to the dry cleaners before rehearsal, so I decided I'd go this morning before classes. A wonderful thing happened though- when I got home last night, my clothes were already here (only a day late)! One less thing to do today!

Rehearsal last night was slow (I got to read most of the stuff for my music class). We did finally get to change the set though- from Act III to Act I. I have a vague idea of what the set is supposed to look like for both of those acts, but I've never seen it for Act II. And the next time I'm there is the first show (well, an invited dress rehearsal). But the other people on deck & props will also have a vague idea and the ASMs will know what to do.

Last night, down the hall from the theatre, a Halloween party was going on. The music was loud and obnoxious, people were screaming (I really can't deal with most hip-hop), and then someone tripped a door alarm which went off for about 30 minutes (ugh). I couldn't wait to change the set so I could be in the theatre, away from the noise.

If I didn't think we were going to get our midterms back in urban structures, I'd skip class this morning. I really hope he has them graded. I think I will be a little late for that class though. The instructor always a little late, so why should I get there early or even on time? I'd skip music too, but I know we're getting our tests back in that one.

Tonight is "La Traviata" with Chris. I'm looking forward to it. First I'll need to find somewhere to get a quick bite to eat.

They still haven't fixed my shower.

I don't really feel like I have the time to write an entry right now, but I really won't have much time this week at all, and I don't want to stop writing, so I'll just make myself take the time.

On my way out Friday morning, I saw the handyman in the elevator, so I asked him when he was planning on fixing my shower. He said he would try to get to it that day, and he actually did. Amazing.

I got my music test back, and I got a 96%.

The second hour of theatre class, I spent painting the set. By the time he sent 3 of us down there, there wasn't much time to do much. That's how disorganised the department is. If they knew they needed some of us to paint the set, they should have sent us down at the beginning of class and we could have spent close to 2 hours painting rather than 30 minutes.

I scrubed the paint off of my hands and headed over to the west side to meet Chris for drinks at Compass. It was perfect- quiet, good drinks, and a nice cheese selection. It was good seeing Chris again.

"La Traviata" was okay. The entire cast was wonderful, especially the woman playing Violetta. The problem was that there was no chemistry between Violetta and Alfredo, so that made the ending flat. But seeing it did make the drinking song get stuck in my head all that night and all day on Saturday.

Saturday was long- much longer than it should have been. Fortunately, we did finish early enough to go out to dinner. I went with Neil, Mike, Maureen, and Carl to Teodora. I'm so glad I finally got to go there. It's a wonderful place- cozy, good food, and a perfectly convenient location for me. The best part of Saturday (besides the dinner) was seeing Abby. Maxine's mother brought her over during the lunch break. She was dressed as a strawberry and was adorable as usual. Can't wait to see her again in a few weeks for Thanksgiving.

I came home and watched the end of the Virginia Tech game, which was so disappointing. Pittsburgh did it again. I actually had a bad feeling they would lose Saturday.

Sunday wasn't as tiring as I thought it would be. I had fun joking around with Mike throughout the day (and Saturday as well). He really is one of my favourite people.

That night, Mike, Carl, Maureen, and I went to Trattoria dell Arte. For some reason, Mike let me pick the wine for the table. I chose the '94 Valpolicella, which happened to be one of his favourites and now is one of mine too. For dinner, I split a salad with Mike (excellent fresh mozerella with the salad) and had a pizza. Wasn't thrilled with the pizza, but couldn't think of anything else I wanted to order. Maureen pointed out that Lionel Richie was sitting a few tables away from us.

This morning, I started cleaning the apartment before meeting Maureen for breakfast at Norma's. That place is still perfect.

This afternoon I caught up on a few things (but not enough things). And I need to leave at 4:30 for tonight's show.

And at some point, I need to figure out all I need to know so I can vote in the election on Tuesday.

Too, too busy.

Last night wasn't too bad. It was a long night dealing with too many idiots, but it could have always been worse. The worst part was dealing with one of the ASMs. She doesn't speak in complete sentences (possibly because English is not her native language) and comes up with all kinds of ridiculous reasons to yell at us. An example? Someone dripped 2 drops of water on the stage during the scene change. Here is what she said in response: "One of you spilled water all over stage! You not to drop anything! You make all this more work for us! Do not drop anything again!" She said it like we spilled the water on purpose and implied that we could assure her that there would be zero chance of it happening again. There were many comments like that. And everyone thinks they know the right way to set the stage, so everyone goes around fixing things the way they think it's supposed to look and then telling everyone else that they did it wrong. And there is never any logic involved in any action or comment by most people involved in the production. Most of the actors are pretty nice though, which is a good thing.

I'm brining the booklet on the proposals for this election to classes with me, and I'll read it during my break. In a few minutes, I'll double check the info I have on the candidates to make sure I remember for whom I want to vote. Then I just need to remember to go to the new polling place this evening. I'm glad I'm not doing the show tonight. I would have had to leave super early this morning to go vote before classes and would have had to read all the information on the election last night when I was exhausted. Thank goodness for the little things that are in my favour.

Part of last night's dream: I was in a large room, I think Rebecca was there for part of the time. Then Tom from Terra Nova had a small band and was performing there. They started playing "The Nicest Things" and everyone in the audience started singing along. I added the harmony. Tom stopped the show and told his ex-wife (I've never met her, but in the dream she had short red hair) he liked the harmony and asked her if they should add the harmony to the song when they perform it, and she agreed. I told her that Terra Nova always had harmony for that song, but she didn't seem to know what I was talking about. That's all I remember now.

We got our midterms back in urban structres- I got an A.

I took the bus down 2nd Ave. after class to go vote, and there was a bus right away. The bad part? It was beyond crowded! So most of us waited for the next bus. That one took over 20 minutes to get there, and that one was beyond crowded too, but I got on anyway. As I was standing there packed in with everyone else, I wanted to announce, "I'm on my way to vote. Are there any candidates I should be voting for that will get the 2nd Ave. subway up and running the fastest?".

The new polling place was busy, with several districts voting there. I miss St. Peter's church, it was so peaceful and quiet voting there.

Got an email from Robyn yesterday about her show being cancelled due to laryngitis. So awful. I feel badly for her, but I'm very excited to have a night at home. I have tests in music and theatre on Friday and I can definitely use the time to study tomorrow night.

Time to finish getting ready for my 13 hour day at the theatre. I hope there's time during the half hour break to find something to eat. Maybe I can run to a deli and get a sandwich to eat during the second show.

Oh, and I meant to mention this yesterday. There's a guy in the show that is another Matt Bogart/Kris Kahn type. He looks the same and has the same facial expressions. Don't know if his personality is the same though since I haven't really talked to him much.

Part of last night's dream: There was a part of New York where the buildings in front of a certain area could lift up and reveal the area behind it. It happened 2 times a day. I happened to be in the area during one of these times and decided to stay and watch it. It was partially like watching the tornado scene in "THE WIZARD OF OZ" and partially like nothing you've ever seen before. Mike came by in the middle of it and didn't know what was going on. I told him that this is what I was talking to him about before, so he stuck around to watch the end. The end was the grand finale. The main building right in front of where the people sat and watched lifted up, and when it came back down, it was like an earthquake. It was actually pretty scary and I had no idea why they allowed people to watch or at least allowed them to sit so close. Obviously this dream came from the set moving we do in "Heartbreak House". We lift parts of it and turn parts around.

Then I had another dream that I don't remember as well. I was standing on the inside wall of a castle on top of a huge mountain. For some reason, I had to drop something onto a square of land below me. I thought it was like a water balloon, but it was more like a bmob (it was shaped like one of the buoys we use in "Heartbreak House"). Then people started chasing me. I didn't know who they were, but they might have been part of some military or something. One of the guys chasing me was the guy who does sound in "Heartbreak House". I saw him at the bottom of the stairs I was running up. Or down. They were Escher stairs. We both realised they were Escher stairs at the same time and he thought that would make it easier to catch me and I thought it would make it impossible. Later I was still running away (I think) on some street. I had to walk a bicycle along beside me and I was trying to figure out if I should be walking on the street, the sidewalk, or the pathway in the middle of the street. I kept going back and forth. This is where my memory of the dream gets fuzzy. I think I was near an airport, but maybe I was in a Metro station in DC. And I remembered a little more when I first woke up, but by now I can't remember any of that part.

At least I finally had enough REM sleep to have dreams.

For the matinee setup yesterday, I was the only one on my crew who showed up early enough to do anything. The other 2 did show up but only after everything was finished. I forgot to bring my book with me, so I didn't have much to do during the show. I don't really like the people who were on the crew for the matinee, so I didn't really talk to them to help pass the time.

I had enough time during the break to run home and get my book, but the evening crew was more fun (I really like Michael- he's a hoot), so I didn't have much time to read. They didn't have any ushers last night, so they had the deck crew usher. Why did we have to usher and not the people on wardrobe (they never have to do anything)? I don't know, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed listening to the house music. They use the CD of the Hunter jazz musicians. I know because someone gave me a copy of the CD and I listened to it once. Anyway, the cast ran through the evening show in record time, so I actually got home by 11:30!

I woke up with an almost-cold. My throat hurts a little and I'm REALLY tired (the kind of tired you get when you're sick). I'm staying in all day, ordered some chicken soup for lunch, and am going to try to get to sleep early tonight).

I need enough energy to study for my 2 tests though. I looked over my notes for music and need to do that again and read over the chapter again as well (since I didn't get to do that during the show last night). And I really need to learn the terms for the theatre test. I haven't looked at those at all yet.

Feeling almost-sick is making me feel like it's Christmas time (I guess because that's when I usually get sick). I feel like I should be mailing out Christmas cards while drinking egg nog and listening to Christmas music. I also am having flashbacks of driving around Christiansburg in the winter. I can visualise the stores and traffic lights heading east from Blacksburg. If I'm not too tired, I really think I'll try to drive down there between Christmas and New Years.

I'm so happy about my entire day and night at home! I don't remember the last time I got to do this.

I was thinking about all the places I've been this year and realised that in 2000, 2001, and 2002 I have travelled (or will be travelling) somewhere at least once a month. I wonder when the first month will be when I won't be going anywhere. I'll probably stay home for all of February 2003. Where have I been (or will be going) this year? List time:
January- College Park, MD
Baltimore, MD
Somerville, MA
Febrary- Somerville, MA
March- London, UK
Cardiff, UK
April- College Park, MD
Baltimore, MD
May- Boston, MA
London, UK
Edinburgh, UK
Stirling, UK
Glasgow, UK
June- Charleroi, BE
Brussels, BE
Amsterdam, NL
Toronto, CAN
July- Baltimore, MD
August- Baltimore, MD
Atlantic City, NJ
Baltimore, MD
September- Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD
October- Somerville, MA
Portsmouth, NH
Kittery, ME
November- Washington, DC
December- College Park, MD
Baltimore, MD

I remember a little part of my dream from last night. I was reading a book with several spelling mistakes. Someone asked where I got it, and I told them I got it in a Canadian airport. I think they were trying to suggest that Canada doesn't care about the editing of their books, but that doesn't really make any sense since the book probably wasn't published in Canada. I think the spelling mistakes in my dream came from reading a few of my old journal entries last night and I noticed some spelling mistakes. It wasn't worth going back to the old files to change them.

I'm feeling a little better this morning, but I still have cold symptoms. I took some cold medicine this morning and so far it hasn't done anything. I'm bringing it with me though since I'd like to feel a little better than this for the show tonight and my 2 tests this afternoon.

I'm feeling more prepared for both of my tests. I'm sure there will be some confusing questions on the music test, but I know the basic information and there's nothing else I can do. I really don't care what I get on this one. I did well on the other 3 and it's really the paper and presentation that will count for most of the grade. And the theatre test shouldn't be too bad either. I'll look over the stuff again on my little break in between classes and that should be enough. I basically know all the terms, it's remembering how to put these terms into definitions that make sense. I mean, how do you describe a binder? Something to which pigment sticks to make paint? Or a traveller- a curtain that travels horizontally across a stage? He's pretty easy-going on our definitions though, so I'm not worried.

I found the perfect book to bring with me to the show tonight and tomorrow- "The Bride of Anguished English". It's something you can stop and start easily (important for those of us on deck & props crew), it's entertaining, and won't use too much mental energy.

I unfortunately remember part of my dream last night. I was leaving somewhere at night and wasn't quite sure how to get to where I was going. I think it was in DC (which would make sense since I'll never understand how to navigate that city). I was walking on some street when the car driving around the circle (another reason I think it was in DC, because of the roundabout) stopped suddenly. The guy driving opened the door of his car and looked behind me. There were about 10 other people gathered. I looked back and saw a guy pointing a gun. The guy next to me said, "Please sir..." and then the guy with the gun shot him. I said, "Please..." and he shot me. I felt 7 (or it might have been 10) bullets go into my back. As each one went in, the area where they went in felt hot and prickly. I realised if I had kept quiet, I might have been spared, but it was obviously too late. The guy only wanted to kill the guy driving the car, but since I turned around a saw him, he had to kill me too. I woke up right after falling to the ground. It was only 6:15, but I was wide awake. Since I still have this cold, I forced myself to get back to sleep and actually slept until 10:30. I could have slept more, but I have things to do today before the show tonight. I think this dream came from either reading sniper-related articles and/or listening to the part of the show where someone shoots a gun.

Yesterday in urban structures we had a guest speaker. She was okay, I guess, but I'm really not enjoying that class very much, and not only because of the amount of work involved.

The music test was okay (I probably got a B), and we were able to take it when class started and leave when we were done. So I had extra time to study for the theatre test.

The theatre test was ridiculous. There were at least 10 words that I have never seen before. I made up answers for some of them (paper rope- a rope made out of paper) and others I just left blank. Everyone did the same. I didn't do well at all but probably did better than most people. We were able to leave when we were finished, so I had extra time before the show started last night.

Today I need to go down to Footlight to pick up a CD and mail it before heading uptown for the show.

I'm onto the coughing stage of my cold. It's not too bad yet, but when I do all the physical labour at the show tonight, I have a feeling I'll be coughing up a storm.

"The Bride of Anguished English" was a hit backstage last night. Jaz and Mink (2 wardrobe people who never have anything to do during the show) had fun with it while I was doing all the set & props moving. No one was too interested in it at first (a little too unfamiliar and reading is definitely not the entertainment of choice at Hunter), but once they started actually reading it, they didn't want to give it back. But they didn't really get it. In the funny-things-you-hear-in-court section, one of the questions asked by a lawyer was, "How long have you been French Canadian?" Jaz and Mink thought that one was supposed to be funny because you couldn't be both French and Canadian since they were 2 different countries. I tried to explain to them what a French Canadian was and the real reason the lawyer's question was supposed to be funny, but they didn't understand.

Still haven't heard back from Jon about their plans for next weekend. I'll try to remember to call him tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I took care of my errands in the East Village. As I was heading back to the bus stop, someone yelled my name and stopped me. I had no idea who she was. She said I was friends with her sister, Leah. It was Anna Elashvili. I knew she was living in the city doing something with music (violin), but I've never seen her. I can't believe she recognised me. It's been over 10 years since we last saw each other. Nice to know I still look the same.

After my errands and seeing Anna, my day went downhill.

First there were transportation issues. I waited 20 minutes for a bus, and the one that finally came by was too full and just skipped the stop. So I walked over to the 6 train. Then they announced that it would be running express from 14th to 125, so I took it up to 86th and was going to take it back downtown to 68th. Instead, I decided to go up to the street to get a muffin to take with me and take the bus down Lex. The bus took 15 minutes to show up. Between train delays and waiting for buses, it took about an hour and a half to get to the theatre. I was only 15 minutes late though. Not a big deal. And of course we only had 2 people on deck & props rather than the 3 we're supposed to have. I think I've only worked 1 show when we had all 3, and 1 of them barely did anything.

The show ran quickly last night, but I was so tired, it felt like it was taking forever to get through. And I'm still not sure where all the furniture and props go. I put them in the basic area and the ASMs fix it. So much for having a prop plot- that would be way too organised.

Our theatre production instructor is getting in trouble. He supposedly doesn't follow directions and messed up the crew and the usher situation. He probably won't be back next year. He's a good teacher though- they should keep him as a teacher and find someone else to do the production scheduling. This theatre department gets rid of people too easily. I guess it's a combination of people getting asked to leave and wanting to leave because of the way the department is run. I really don't know much yet- I just know the little I've observed. I'll probably understand more of the chaos as I get more involved in the department. One thing I'm concerned with is when the non-required classes are available. There are around 7 classes that are required and then you need about 3 elective classes. I was looking at the schedules for this fall and last spring and the only non-required class available was directing. Are the other classes listed in the catalogue ever available? I don't want to take directing. Hopefully I can talk to the advisor this week or next to ask her about internships and I can ask her about the availability of classes as well.

I talked to John (the guy who reminds me of Kris) last night for a few minutes. They really do have the exact same voice. It's strange talking to him and trying to remember that it's not Kris.

I knew Texas A&M would beat Oklahoma. Should have bet money on it. I did bet on Tech losing to Syracuse, even though it killed me to do it. If Maryland can beat Virginia in a few weeks, there's a possibility they'll be in the Gator bowl with Tech. Jon and I should watch that together. And maybe Eytan too, if he's around and wants to hang out.

Speaking of Jon, I called him this morning to find out what was going on. Michelle had surgery last week. She was still having complications from Steven's birth. There was a possibility of them not coming up here next weekend, but she's feeling better and they will be coming up. They'll get here Friday evening and leave Sunday evening. They're bringing Rebecca's (Brian's fiancee) sister to watch Steven while they're out. I told Jon to bring an extra blanket since the only extra one I have is old and needs to be washed (and I won't have time to do that between now and the time they get here). So if I'm feeling better by Friday (which I really hope I will be), hopefully we can do something that night. But if I'm not feeling 100% better (or at least 90% better), I'll rest Friday night so I can be in better shape for the Smithsonian event on Saturday. Oh, and when he mentioned bringing Rachel (Rebecca's sister), he was trying to figure out sleeping arrangements. He said Michelle and Rebecca could share the bed, and (he assumed I would think he would say he would sleep on the couch) he could sleep with me. Such the comedian.

It's just a coincidence that I started this Veteran's Day entry at 11:11.

Ushering yesterday was fine. I got to watch the show from the side benches, which prevented me from seeing much of the stage, but I got the basic idea. The show isn't that great but isn't horrible either. The main problem is that none of the actors were really involved in their characters. There were 2 that stood out, but both of their performances stayed on the same level throughout the show, which made their performances rather dull. So nothing was really bad, but it was all very average (the technical and performing aspects). And while John may look like Kris and Matt and sound like Kris and Matt, he does not act as well as Kris and Matt. John was the hardest for me to watch in the show since I expected more from him, which I know isn't fair but I couldn't help it.

Today I'm going to try to rest, while at the same time, get a lot done. I have a ton of mail to deal with and I want to get my finances in order (the end of the year is quickly approaching and I really need to start getting organised). I also want to clean the apartment, but I might save that for Thursday. And if I get enough done today, I think I'll watch a movie at night. It's been ages since I've seen a movie. I have a few errands that I should take care of soon, but I think I'll skip my urban structures class tomorrow morning and get some things done then.

In my dream, I looked at the call sheet for "Heartbreak House" and saw that I had to work Tuesday night. When I woke up this morning, I couldn't tell if it was real or a dream. I looked at the sheet and saw that it was just a dream. I really do have Tuesday night off. So glad it was just a dream- I need all the rest time I can get so I can get rid of this cold in time for the Smithsonian event on Saturday. I can't believe it's so soon. It feels like it was just a few weeks ago that I learned I was invited. No, that was August. Of course I don't even feel like August existed.

I used to only think about death while falling asleep at night. The other night while walking home from the show, I had thoughts about dying that night. I thought about drive-by shootings or just going to sleep and not waking up. I tried to push the thoughts out of my mind, but they really didn't want to go away. I hope that doesn't become a trend- thinking about death at random times.

I did watch a movie yesterday. I watched "Va Savoir" since it was the only thing on that looked somewhat interesting. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, but I watched the whole thing anyway (it was almost 3 hours).

It took me forever to fall asleep last night. I got in bed around midnight and by 3:00, I was contemplating getting out of bed and starting my day early. But then I thought it would be better to toss and turn and eventually fall asleep so I could try to get rid of this cold. I don't know when I finally fell asleep, but I did NOT want to get out of bed this morning. I hit the snooze button for an hour. The gloomy day didn't help matters. So now I feel like I'm running late, but I'm really not. Glad I'm able to skip the urban class this morning. I'm going to skip the trip to the drug store (maybe I'll go this evening after classes), but I really need to go to the bank to make a deposit- I have 9 checks that really would be more useful sitting in my account rather than on my table at home (especially when this month's bills finally go in the mail today- some of which are a little late, oh well).

So glad I don't have to do the show tonight. If I have enough mental energy, I should use that time to do some more research for the LES project.

Thinking about Jon and Michelle coming up this weekend made me realise I still haven't used the Borders gift certificate they got me last time they stayed here. That's okay, I don't really have time to read anyway. Hopefully I can use it before heading down to Maryland in December. I'm sure I'll have some time to read when I'm down there.

And thinking about going to Maryland in December brought up thoughts on Christmas gifts. I have no idea what to get anyone this year.

AT&T's website has been having issues, and I can't access my bill. I called customer service 2 days ago, and the woman told me that they were having issues and to try again later. Yesterday (I think it was the same woman) she told me I was the one with the problem- she said she pulled up my account with no trouble and that it was my ISP's fault. So I called RCN twice. The first time I was on hold for 20 minutes and the next time was on hold for 15. I got sick of holding and gave up. I'll call them when I'm finished with this entry if I still can't view my bill.

We got our theatre tests back yesterday. His grading is a joke. As long as you wrote something, you got full credit. So my made up answers got me full credit and I got a 93%. Stupid.

And according to Duane's records, I will not have all my hours to get both the class and theatre major requirements filled for this semester by the time "Heartbreak House" is over. So I will usher for a few "Zooman" shows and then I should be all set.

We watched a cheesy video on how to build a flat yesterday. At the end of it, the narrator said that, "if you're left-handed, you should get a mirror while watching the video so you can learn how to build a flat". When Duane asked what we learned from the video, I told him I couldn't learn anything since I didn't have a mirror ;)

There are no food options between me and Hunter. I wanted to get something to eat yesterday before music class and couldn't find anything. Then I went looking again during my break, and the place I went to was out of everything I tried to order (soup, eggs...). So I gave up and got a pastry from a deli which was stale.

And I had food issues last night when I got home as well. I ordered Indian and it took an hour and a half to get here (the restaurant is 2 blocks from me). It was worth the wait though- I'll have to try to order from there again when it's not raining (I'm assuming the rain is what caused the delay).

I did manage to get a few things at the drug store before heading home yesterday evening even though it was pouring. Why do I always seem to have errands to run on rainy days?

I finally changed the lightbulb over my shower today. I got stubborn and decided to see if the chair would fit in the shower so I could change the bulb. I didn't think it would fit, but it did. Let there be light!

I am so not a visual person. Rorschach tests are a waste on me. I took a Rorschach last night and couldn't see any of the objects that others saw in the images.

I got in bed around 11:30 last night, but by 2:00 I still wasn't asleep. So I got out of bed and did something last night that I never do this far ahead of time. I booked a car for Christmas! And it was actually cheaper than it has been in recent months. Thank you Avis.

So I didn't get to sleep until around 4:00 and I did NOT want to get out of bed this morning. But I did finally get up around 10:00.

And I coloured my hair (finally).

Neil and Maxine decided they would rather go out to dinner for Thanksgiving rather than eat here, so I made reservations at Marion's. Hope that place will be okay with everyone.

I had been turning on General Hospital a few days when I'm home and then turn it off after the first 5 minutes when I see that Lane Davies is not on. Well, today I did not turn it off. It was Lane Davies' first day and it was quite exciting. He's playing a man with that wonderful dry sense of humour and sarcasm, and he's incredible (he's on right now, in fact). I can't believe I have to watch this soap opera to see him, but it's worth it. I'm so ashamed I'm watching this and can't believe I'm admiting it in this public journal.

I had emailed Matt Bogart a few days ago about one of the songs he performed at Ars Nova (I really liked it and it wasn't on his CD). I didn't expect him to write back, but he did. And he not only told me what show the song is from but that the show will be produced at the York Theatre next Spring and that he's hoping to be in it. How exciting that will be if it actually happens!

Today is a good day so far. I'm hoping it will continue to go well at the show tonight.

The sky was grey all day. About a half hour ago, part of the sky turned pinkish-orange. It felt strange, to see the sky that colour, and I thought that maybe it was because it looked like sunrise (since the sky had been dark all day and was just starting to get lighter) and I was confused as to what time it was (5:00 AM or 5:00 PM). Then I looked outside again and realised why it looked strange. The sky was lighter in the east instead of in the west. Very odd to see a semi-light sky in the east and darkness in the west at 5:00 PM.

I had an adventure dream last night. Each part came from a little thing that happened during my day yesterday. I don't remember the plot of the dream anymore though. All I remember now is taking pictures (I was thinking about taking pictures yesterday), taking pictures in Scotland (I talked to someone about Scotland yesterday), talking to Matt Bogart (I got an email from him yesterday), looking at menus (I was looking at a few menus yesterday on City Search), and talking to a girl in my urban structures class (she came to see "Heartbreak House" last night and I talked to her for a few minutes while I was ushering).

Once again I didn't get to sleep until around 4:00 this morning. I hope I can do better tonight since I have to get up early tomorrow.

I was talking to John for a few minutes before the show last night, and I told him that he reminded me of a couple people. He says he gets that a lot, and I told him that I do as well- told him I guess I just look generic and he agreed that he must look generic as well. But I don't think he looks generic at all. I think he's very distinctive looking, plus he has the same voice and mannerisms as Kris and Matt; it's not just his looks that are similar. We also had a conversation about age- how old I looked. This was one of three conversations about my age that I had yesterday.

Tonight is the last night I have to work on "Heartbreak House". I actually think I'll miss it a little bit. Never thought that would happen.

My cold is basically gone. I'm still congested, but I don't feel worn out from it anymore.

I had some work today! I worked on a small project, but I didn't take it as seriously as I normally would. I just didn't feel like taking the time to do a perfectionist job on it. It's good enough though.

Now I need to clean the apartment so it looks presentable for my guests this weekend.

And I haven't been eating enough recently. I'm going to leave for the show early this evening and get a bite to eat at the crappy diner across the street.

I know I should be in bed and trying to fall asleep, but I'm not even close to being tired yet. So I thought I'd write an entry now since I won't have much time tomorrow (technically today). Before classes, I have to finish cleaning the apartment since I did not finish that today and then soon after I get back from classes, Jon and crew will be arriving.

I suppose I could finish cleaning tonight, but I was domestic enough tonight at the theatre. ASM Katie made me wash the dishes after the show was over tonight. Usually we wash them before the next show, which I did as well when I got there tonight. So after the night of double washing, plus all the moving of the set, furniture, etc., I don't feel like doing any more cleaning/straightening tonight.

So tonight was my last night at "Heartbreak House". I finally learned every little part of the scene change between acts II and III, and now I won't have to do it anymore. Oh well. I had fun hanging out with Katie (the one in my class, not the ASM) backstage. Besides Mike and Marcos, she's the only person I really like talking to in my class.

I talked to a couple of the actors (John and Ben) tonight and asked them if any of the cast members were happy with the show. They didn't think many of them were thrilled with it. That could be a big reason the show isn't that good- not many of the actors really wanted to be doing it. They think it's pretty bad so they don't even try.

Every once in a while, I remember that I've only done 2 journal entries for my production class. We're supposed to write an entry for each day we worked on the production. I'll just do it at the last minute, using this journal to remind myself of what I did each day.

And we have to write a paper on "Heartbreak House", but he hasn't said anything about that yet. I'm pretty sure we'll just have to do a review, but I'll wait to see if he mentions it before thinking to much about it.

And I still need to check with him to see how many more hours I need to complete for the crew requirement. If he tells me it's more than the amount of time I can spend ushering for "Zooman", I'm going to ask him if I can do a few less hours since I worked twice as hard than most of the people on deck & props for this show. There were a few days when I was the only one there on my crew for setup and then there were all the shows I spent ushering in addition to deck & props. If the decision is up to him, I'm sure he'll be fine with that, but I have a feeling it's up to David and I doubt he'll go for me completing a few less hours than is required. I normally wouldn't mind putting in the hours and I feel a bit ridiculous complaining and asking for fewer hours, but I have too many papers to write before the end of the semester and the week of "Zooman" is the last week available for me to do all of it.

I think that all I write about these days is school. School has consumed my life. At least I can write about Jon & Michelle's visit and the Smithsonian event when I get home on Sunday.

Okay, I'm going to play a few trivia games and then try to fall asleep.

Friday was a long day, and I was exhausted since barely got any sleep the night before. The worst part about Friday was that our music instructor decided to give us more work to do. This assignment came out of nowhere. He told us to look at the CD ROM we were supposed to buy over the weekend and pick a section. We will need to write a paper comparing the section we choose to a section of the book for part of our final exam. Of course I don't even have the CD ROM, so I'm hoping Sara (in both my music class and urban class) will remember to bring it on Tuesday and I can look at it for a few minutes before the music class. If I'm not able to do that, he will just have to wait for my decision until Friday and hopefully I can get a copy of the thing by then. And I have no idea when I'll have time to actually write the paper.

I left my theatre class early and came home to finish cleaning. Jon & Michelle hit a lot of traffic at the tunnel and didn't get here until 7:30 or 8:00. Jon, Michelle, Steven, Rachel (their nanny), Brian (Michelle's cousin who they always seem to invite to dinner when they're here), and I went out to dinner around 9:00- we were all exhausted.

I woke up sometime early Saturday morning with my desk calendar next to me on my bed. I had no recollection of putting it there (and I asked my guests if by some strange chance, they put it there- they did not) and don't remember having a dream about calendars. But I do remember a little part of my dream from that night. I was in a big building and John, from "Heartbreak House", was there and trying to serve me a glass of Aristocrat rum. He didn't know how to pour it into a glass though, and I was trying to help him. Then he kissed me. That's all I remember.

Saturday morning I decided the weather wasn't too terrible, so I kept my flight rather than take the train. Fortunately, the mid-air crash in Jersey didn't cause problems for my flight. I got to the Hilton and relaxed for a little bit before getting ready for the evening.

Of course it was still pouring and cold and all I had with me was my leather jacket (great look- a formal dress and leather jacket), so it was pretty miserable getting back and forth to the Smithsonian.

The event would have been better if the food and drinks were better. They had cheap, nasty wine and a menu that had peppers and onions in everything (I really wish I could eat those things as they are in a majority of dishes). The only people who would talk to me were women and they were boring, trophy wives. I hate that people assume I'm unintelligent and boring just because I'm female and wish there was a way to prove that I'm not, but no one will take the time to figure that out.

Even though it was still rainy yesterday, my flight was ontime! I got home around 2:30 and found tons of people in my apartment. Jon isn't big on details and neglected to tell me that Michelle's cousins would be here before the show and leaving their 6 month old daughter. So 3 people were on their way out as I was on my way in and Rachel's friend from high school was visiting for a little while and almost on his way out. Michelle's cousins put their daughter to sleep in my room even though Rachel tried to tell them to put her down in the guest room, so I couldn't get into my room for a while. The rest of the day was spent with Rachel and the babies. They were both cranky most of the afternoon and it would have been nice, if it wasn't raining, to take them for a walk.

Jon, Michelle, and her cousins got back from "Hairspray" around 6:00 (they all liked it) and started packing everything up. After ordering some pizza, they left around 7:30 for a long, rainy trip home.

My apartment is a bit messy (as expected with so many people, including babies, here) and need to deal with that soon.

I also need to go through the mail, finish up my music paper and work on the presentation, order groceries, and maybe write my journal for theatre.

What I remember from my dream last night is that discovered I had a pin in my wrist. That part of my wrist had an opening (like the Terminator's wrist) and you could see the pin- it was a blue thumb tack. When I first saw it, I wasn't worried. Then I thought that maybe I should be worried and found Paula to ask her about it, but before she could answer me, I jumped to another part of the dream. I was working on some kind of project with Prezemeck (a guy from my theatre production class). For part of it, he had to write personal information about me. I think that part took place in a school in a ski resort town and I think Terry (or maybe it was Clayton) was there. I remembered a few other little bits when I woke up this morning but they quickly faded away.

Tonight I'm going to do my theatre journal and then watch a movie (if anything good is on- think I'll go check now).

The only thing I remember from my dream last night is having to measure things using the Kelvin scale.

Well, none of the clothes I bought really fit, but 2 pairs of pants sort of fit, so I'm keeping them since they're better than nothing. The rest, I will return hopefully this week (probably on Friday before classes since there's a Mailboxes Etc 2 blocks from school).

I just found a website that offers custom-made pants which I think I will try. They're really not much more expensive than department store prices, and they guarantee they will fit. Just need to get a measuring tape.

I started reading "Alarms & Excursions" last night, and it was very hard to put down (but I was determined to get to bed at a semi-decent hour last night). It's definitely not something to read before trying to fall asleep though- too funny. But I think I will try to finish it tonight since I don't have to get up super early tomorrow morning.

Something major was going on outside my apartment last night. The streets were blocked off and there were a dozen police cars. No idea what was going on and couldn't find any news story.

I went to CVS yesterday evening to pick up my pictures and to get a measuring tape, but they didn't have a measuring tape. Guess I'll have to remember to look elsewhere (with all the wonderful spare time I have these days).

Josh got an interesting accounting job (interesting since he has no accounting experience). It doesn't start until January, but hey, a job is a job.

I remember little bits from my dream last night. I was in a large house and there were some theatre people from my past. Andy was there and I think we were wandering around the house making drinks. We were talking about Heather Beck, and I was telling him how attracted I was to her. Then I was walking in a circle around the house with 2 other people, singing the intro to the title song from "Guys and Dolls" (that part makes sense as I was talking about it with Rachel when she was here last weekend, plus I was working on my music paper last night, in which I mention that show). I remembered a bit more when I woke up, but of course can't remember anything else now.

I woke up a few times though this morning and every time had "Jimmy On the Lam" ("to my poor lost Romeo wand'ring in the night") from "Reefer Madness" in my head.

I've been in the mood recently to be in a secluded area with no one else around. Perhaps when I'm down in Maryland, I can find a path in the woods, that's not completely overgrown, near Paula and Harvey's house. A walk in the woods with no people in sight (or in sound) would be perfect.

I saw strange light and shadows on my floor this morning. I didn't understand how my lamp suddenly caused different patterns on the floor and then realised the light and shadows were coming from the sun outside. I haven't seen the sun in ages! Unfortunately, it was only shining for a brief period of time. It became cloudy shortly after I noticed it.

And other weather related news, last night as I was walking out of school, I felt a few drops fall. I knew it couldn't be from walking under and air conditioner since those would all be turned off by now, so I didn't know what it was. Then the drops fell steadily, and I realised it was raining. I guess I just didn't expect rain, so I didn't know what the drops were at first. Kind of silly, I guess. So yes, the rain started just in time for my evening errands.

I was wide awake last night, so I finished my music paper. This morning, I worked a bit on my presentation. Tomorrow I will go over it a few more times, so I don't completely stumble through it on Friday.

This evening, I will finally write my theatre journal and get that out of the way.

Yesterday I asked Duane again about my hours and he told me what he had for me but said those hours didn't include ushering. With a combination about me slightly embellishing the number of hours I ushered (I did usher 4 days, I just didn't stay as an usher for 3 of them) and Duane's poor math, he now has written down that I completed the required number of hours. So no working on "Zooman" for me. That gives me more evenings at home to work on the LES presentation.

The doormen in my building are going to think I'm running a nursary. Last weekend, I had 2 babies here (Steven and Jordan). Thanksgiving weekend, Abby will be here. The weekend after that, I will have Daniel here (Ilene's son- Jon's cousin).

Right now, I am feeling relaxed about everything I have to do in the next month. I guess because there's nothing I can really do right now except my LES project. I don't have the CD ROM yet for the music paper and we don't have the exact assignment for the city research paper. If no one mentions it to him, maybe he'll forget about it and it will be one less thing to do. That would be nice. I doubt that will happen though. I don't mind the actual paper, I just don't know when I'll find the time to write it. I guess during those evenings when I thought I was going to have to be working "Zooman".

I just looked at the website that has the CD ROM we have to order and found out that we don't really need the CD ROM. The money you pay them is for full access to their website. The CD ROM is just a bonus and allows you to see the videos in high quality, but you can view everything from their site. That makes things easier. Now I just have to wait for the instructor to tell us exactly what we need to do with it.

So because I feel so relaxed tonight, I think I'm going to watch a movie. I know I always say I'm going to watch a movie and then don't, but I think I'm really going to watch one tonight. Hopefully something good will be on TV, but if not, I'll watch something I already have.

I need to go over my presentation 1 or 2 more times tonight and possibly once tomorrow morning, and then I think I'll be as prepared as I feel like being. I'm not thrilled about trying to change CDs in the middle of the presentation, but that's the only option if I want to play music. If my CD burner worked, that would have made this easier, but I really don't care. It'll be good enough.

I'll be going to Toronto for work at the end of January, and I thought I might try to squeeze in a trip to Vancouver right before that. It's the worst month to go and it's not around the corner, but I've been trying to go there for years and this would be a convenient time to go. If I fly to Toronto first, I can get a non-stop from there and of course a non-stop on the way back to Toronto. And Kristin has friends who will probably let me stay with them, and I can also ask Robyn if she knows of a place I can stay if Kristin's friends don't work out. I don't have to think about this now though. I have some time.

I watched "Noises Off" last night. It was the first time I've seen it since I saw several productions of it over the past few years, and I must say, the movie was much more disappointing this time. I mean, parts of it were still hilarious, but the cast had some problems and it's just better to see live. The filming of it takes away from the comic dynamics.

Not much else to say. I've been feeling kind of numb tonight.

I'm tired and am taking tonight off.

I'm feeling nostalgic tonight, for a change. And "Fumbling Toward Ecstasy" always put me in a nostalgic, relaxed mood.

My music presentation went well today. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. At least it's done. He also talked more about the final. He's going to give us an outline of what will be on the exam, so we don't have to memorise oodles and oodles of information. He also gave us the topics for the essay part of the exam. I should register on the website this weekend and get started on that next week.

I just got an email from Andy, which is making me really want to go down to NRV between Christmas and New Years. I told him I wasn't going to enjoy my weekend and he suggested this (hope you don't mind me quoting you, Andy):
"I'll make a deal with you: you try to make the very best of your weekend and I'll try to make the very best of mine. I'll do you one better: I'll take a drive around the NRV *for* you, you do something in Manhattan for me. Something you think that I'd think was fun...I'm assuming, given your love of the NRV, that you'd like to take a drive around. While you're doing the Manhattan thing for me, imagine how you'd feel in a car driving around the NRV. While I'm driving around the NRV, I'll think of what it'd be like to be doing something in NYC. I'll "write a report" on your drive, you write a report on my time in the city. Deal? Cool. Enjoy myself."
Sounds like a plan. Now I just need to think of something that he would enjoy doing here (and something that wouldn't take too much time since most of weekend should be spent on the LES project).

I'd like to watch a movie with my night off. Not sure what I want to watch though. I know there's nothing on TV that I want to watch, so I'll try to find something to rent (I love video delivery). I think I'm in a mood for a drama tonight, as long as it's not depressing in any way.

So it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to watch, but I think "The Myth of Fingerprints" was a perfect choice. First of all, it takes place during Thanksgiving, so it's a time-appropriate movie. I have seen it already (I wanted to watch something I haven't seen), but it's been a while and don't remember much of it, so that's good. It's actually perfect since I already know I like it but don't really remember it, so it's sort of like watching a new movie, but don't have the risk of watching a new movie which would have the possibility of not being something I like. I'm rambling. I have too much energy right now. I really do get second winds at night.

But it's good I have this energy since I'm not even going to start the movie until 11:00. And that's fine since I'll be able to enjoy as many hours of my night off that I possibly can. Sure, I'll wake up late and be pissed that I don't have enough hours tomorrow for the LES project, but I don't care about that right now. The project will get done somehow.

And I think I'll make myself a drink while watching the movie. I'd rather get stoned, but since I don't have that option, I'll have a drink.

Oh, and speaking of getting stoned, I might have the possibility of that soon. I'm not getting my hopes up, but there's a girl in my theatre class that said she could help me out. She's never in class so who knows if she'll actually remember by the time I see her again, but at least it's a possibility.

"The Myth of Fingerprints" was not the movie I meant to watch last night. I was thinking of "Home for the Holidays". I guess I got confused since they are both Thanksgiving movies. Anyway, while a few parts were okay, I really didn't like it. I'll have to rent "Home for the Holidays" next week- even if I don't really have time to watch it.

After some misery about how to organise my paper (I've been through it at least 5 times and could never find a good way to do it), I finally got started writing it around 2:00 this afternoon. I have about 3 pages so far (how does the day fly so quickly?), and really am hoping to do part 2 tonight before I go to sleep. Then I can do part 3 tomorrow afternoon.

I decided that for my Andy-in-Manhattan activity, I would take a walk through Times Square and get a slice of pizza. I have to go get a measuring tape at a store not too far from Times Square, so it's kind of convenient. And I'd appreciate a little walk anyway. Then if I finish my paper in the afternoon/evening, maybe Robyn will want meet me for a drink Sunday night and I can have a Andy-having-a-drink-in-Manhattan activity that night.

I've had "Honey Bun" from "South Pacific" in my head today. Why?!?

Eytan called out of the blue yesterday and left a message. I called him back this evening and we talked for a little while. We would have talked longer if I didn't want to get back to my paper. So, there's no real reason he hasn't called me in ages. He said he hasn't talked to Jeff in ages either. Has he forgotten about his out-of-town friends? Maybe. Anyway, it was nice catching up. I briefly mentioned that I would be in his neck of the woods around Christmas and was going to suggest getting together, but then we got on the subject of the reason I would be in Maryland before Christmas- Daniel's wedding. And then I really needed to get off the phone (he still doesn't like to get off the phone easily), so I didn't mention getting together while I was in town. I suppose I'll call him when I'm there and hopefully we can make plans. Maybe I can go visit him at the coffee shop where he now works. I think it's so cute that he's working at a coffee shop.

I'm realising that my time in Maryland will be busy. There's the wedding, work, visiting Sylvia, visiting Carol, Christmas Eve, Christmas, a possible trip down to the NRV, New Years, and Abby's birthday. Maybe I can see Eytan on New Years Eve during the day. And I want to try to have dinner at Paula and Harvey's one night- hopefully we'll find a night when we're all free.

Late last night, Hunter put the spring schedule of classes online. I really hate the theatre department. They hardly have any classes available. Out of the classes I haven't already taken, there are very few that I am able to take because of prerequisites. But the prerequisites I need aren't available either. The only classes I'll be able to take are Acting II (I really didn't want to take this yet) and Visual Elements (it's taught by an artist who knows a bit about scene design and costumes but knows nothing about lighting which is an important visual element, so I'd rather not take this class from her, but I'll talk to her the week after next- which will be the next time I see her- to see what she has to say about the class). I'm going to talk to the advisor on Tuesday (I really hope she's in her office during her office hours) and ask her how students are supposed to graduate with this kind of schedule. I'm just glad I'm not one of those students who have 1 semester left before graduating, need to take Play Analysis since it's a requirement, and it's not available this spring. I knew it would be difficult to get into classes since they all fill quickly, but I didn't think it would be a problem getting the required classes done because the classes aren't available. I have a small list of things I'd like to discuss with the theatre advisor. I just hope she's in a good mood on Tuesday. Well, first I hope that she's actually in her office and I'm able to talk to her, and then I'll hope that she's in a good mood.

So I don't know what I'll take next semester. I don't want to take classes just for the sake of taking classes. They're all too much work for something I don't really need to do. I do need more credits, but most of those credits I'll need in theatre classes. Hopefully I'll know more on Tuesday.

Okay, back to the paper.

He sent me an email about his drive through the NRV and it brought back nice memories of my drives around there. It sounds like he had a perfect experience and quite a few coincidences too.

I'm not getting very far on my paper. I keep trying to find more information and that's been taking way too much time. I'll work a little longer and then I'm going to try to get to sleep.

I did get a substantial amount of my paper done before I went to sleep last night. That made me feel better last night about how today would be.

So, I had my Andy-in-Manhattan day. It was completely different than my original plans, but from my point of view, it was better. I'm not going to write about it though, since I haven't told him about it yet and in case he reads this, I don't want him to read it here first. So I'll have to write about my morning another time.

The rest of the day was spent on my paper. From the walking tour, to the research, to the organisation, to the actual writing, I've spent over 40 hours this project so far. I suspect we will spend about 15-20 hours organising and preparing for the presentation part of the project. Not worth it. So, I'm almost finished my paper. I have to figure out how to stretch out the part on gentrification so I can make it longer. It's not quite long enough as it is now.

I was going to do some other stuff tonight, but I haven't done anything yet. It's still early though, so I may get to something before I go to sleep. I'm giving myself a choice of the following: outline for my music section, theatre journal, clean apartment, or go through the mail. Although, I think I'll save the mail for tomorrow since there are some customer service issues to take care of (RCN has made a mess of my services and my doctor sent me a bill for my bloodwork which the insurance should be covering). I'll probably wind up doing one or both of the school things since I'll probably be more into using mental energy than physical energy. Whatever I don't do tonight will have to get done tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, I will get some groceries online since I found a new site I want to try out. It's called Fresh Direct and looks much better than D'Agostino's. Plus, they give you $50 of free fresh food for your first order (their food, not brand-name groceries) and wave the $3.95 delivery fee (although the delivery fee is cheaper than anyone else's). Anyway, ordering online allows me to get a few things for Neil, Maxine, and Abby for when they're here and I don't have to pick up those things at the Food Emporium after classes on Tuesday when I'll be tired and not feel like lugging home groceries.

Crazy NFL day today. I got my picks almost all wrong (I think I got 2 or 3 right- definitely my worst week ever). Most people in my group are in the same boat though. My main problem is still picking against the spread. That sure makes it difficult when these teams win by 2 or 3 points points.

Paula and Harvey are off to Europe tonight. Wish I could go. Their first stop is London. I could always be in the mood for London. I told Paula to try to go to Lab Bar for me, even though I got pissed at them last time I was there and don't really want to give them business. But they'll probably be closed when Paula tries to go, and then they won't get her business.

I love these emails:
Calvary Greetings. I am a preacher with the Seed Harvest Ministry,and I will like to get advice from you.I believe the advice I need is secular to some extent,but do have the patience to understand my intention. A few year's ago I was in Liberia where I had established a little congregation where I preached regularly,but the civil war escaleted and the church was converted to a hospital of sourghts. On one faith full day three Nigerian Soldiers came to me and left trunks of Money with me and swore to come back for it. When the war in Liberia intensified I deposited this box in a security vault in Togo,I was escorted to Togo by the ECOMOG soliers who felt the content of the trunks were documents and never cared to check the trunks,I was air lifted to England with other refugees then,I stayed in England and when I was getting fraustrated I returned to Africa only to find out that two of the three Soldiers died in Battle while the last was decleared MIA (Missing in Action). Now I have the fund which the soldiers said was over thirty million dollars,but it lies in a security vault in a Security Company in Togo,and I was contacted in a letter dated 12th of September by the security company asking me to indicate if I was in reciept of the letter as a sign that I am living and still subscribed for their service. I am interested in using a small fraction of this money,much less than one percent for a re organisation of the work,but I do not need the rest and do not want to have any direct dealing with it,but I need someone who will be able to use the fund better maybe for charity or something universally profitable,I have thought of doing it my self but,my ministry is the apocalypse and I believe and preach the soon comming of the Lord which make me not indulgent in reliance on money or wealth in any form. I also do not have the money that has accrued on the service and safe deposit of the company that holds the fund,I will be glad if you have any interest in the direction of maybe managing or transmitting the fund as you prefer in your capacity and understanding. I will be glad to get a response from you ASAP. Regards. JOHN WALTER

I'm having a do-everything-at-the-same-time kind of day. I was switching around this morning/afternoon between cleaning, ordering groceries, writing my music outline, organising files (electronic files, that is), and dealing with email. Now the groceries and outline and files and email are finished, but I need to finish cleaning. I did not do the mail/call customer service people today. I guess I'll have to get that done on Wednesday.

Paula called me to tell me they managed to go to Lab Bar this evening. And they had a perfect time. So jealous but so glad I reminded them to go since they had such a great time. They need to have fun times like that more often. She thanked me for reminding her about it and told me to continue telling them to do stuff like that (theatre, bars, opera...) since they always enjoy it.

It sounds like they had a perfect day in London. Took a walk, saw old architecture, went to Lab Bar, and picked up dinner from (I think) Fortnum & Mason for a quiet night in their hotel room.

I guess another reason I'm doing so poorly with my football picks because I barely have time to pay attention to this season. I'm just too busy for things like sports.

But I definitely do feel less busy now. While I still have a ton to do over the next month or so, it's considerably less than what I've done these past few months. And with my new-found free time, I think I'm going to rent "Home for the Holidays" tonight (although I may not get around to watching it until tomorrow night).

I just did something crazy. I don't know why, but because I basically finished my LES paper (I still need to make it a little longer and tie up the gentrification part), I think I have loads of free time now. But this isn't really true. I still have 2 more papers, a presentation, 3 tests, Thanksgiving, some work, a day of babysitting, and Robyn's holiday show before I head down to Maryland on Dec. 19th. But obviously I'm ignoring all that since I decided that going to see a show on Wednesday night was entirely possible. I had read about "What Didn't Happen" a few weeks ago but didn't think I'd have time to see it before it closes on Dec. 22. But when an opportunity for a free ticket for Wednesday night popped up, I took it. I'll just have to make sure to get up early on Wednesday to take care of everything that needs taking care of before Neil, Maxine, and Abby get up here (super early) on Thursday morning.

And both of our college teams are playing back to back on ESPN on Saturday. Oh, to be able to sit around all day and watch sports... Not that I'd want to do that all the time, but once in a while sounds nice.

Woke up singing "About a Quarter to Nine" from "42nd Street".

I had a lot of trouble waking up this morning. I hit the snooze button for an hour. How great it would be if I could ever find a schedule that allowed me to sleep when I'm actually tired. But that's extremely unlikely to ever happen.

I remembered that I need to go return those clothes that I got earlier this month, and loving efficiency, I thought of a perfect time to do that. I noticed last night that there's a Mailboxes Etc next to the video store where I need to return HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. So on Friday, I can take my package and video up there at the same time. Then I'll have more incentive to return the video and be able to get my package returned.

I wonder if I'll be able to see "The Two Towers" when it comes out on the 18th, or if I'll have to wait until January to see it and try not to listen to anyone's opinions until then?

I should actually be able to see it on the 18th since I won't have much to do between Dec. 14 and Dec. 18. I found out today that my theatre final is on the last day of class since he's busy after that and won't be able to have a final during finals week. That means I'll have 2 finals on the 13th and then I'll be finished with this semester-from-hell. I'll probably have some work the week of the 15th (I'll know for sure as it gets closer to that time), but work is so much less effort than school work.

We finally got the assignment for the research paper on a city for urban structures. It's actually supposed to be a longer and more detailed paper than our neighbourhood paper. Ridiculous! Guess I'll have more time to work on it though, if Neil, Maxine, and Abby aren't able to come up here this weekend.

I actually got to talk to the theatre advisor today. She told me I could take World Theatre II before taking World Theatre I, so at least there's one theatre class I can take next semester. I also asked her about internships, and she said I should start looking into them now and apply soon. I can get college credit for any internship I get. Now I just have to hope I can actually get a casting internship. That would make my future so much more clear.

Oh, I was also able to talk to Louisa about her Visual Elements class, and I don't think I'll be taking it. She said there will be a lot of time consuming projects. Projects are not my thing.

I sent an email to the woman teaching Psychoanalytic Theory to ask what the class would involve. I did the same for the Dance, Dancer, and Audience class. They're both at the same time, so I'll take the one that sounds like less work since they both sound interesting but I don't need either one. Hopefully they'll get back to me in a timely fashion and I can plan for next semester. And for my third class, I haven't figured that out yet. I'm hoping to take a Monday & Wednesday night class, since my day classes will be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. Even though I'll be working on the show next semester and that will take up some of my nights, they don't do shows on Monday nights, and if the show runs for 1 week, I'll only miss 1 class (plus possibly my Wednesday afternoon classes if there's a Wednesday matinee). I looked into other classes in the afternoons, but there aren't any that I'm able to take. There are more options at night.

I had a great experience ordering groceries from Fresh Direct. They were scheduled to arrive between 8-10 tonight, and they arrived at 8:15. And there was only 1 thing missing (one of the cheeses). For dinner tonight, I had their prepared chicken, which was good. when they delivery guys left, they were laughing out in the hallway. If they were laughing at me, I have no idea what it was about. Anyway, I can't wait to order from them again. Next time I'll get $25 in free food if I fill out their survey.

I got 2 compliments today! Both from people in my theatre class. Katie told me she liked my shirt and that it brought out the colour in my eyes. And a few days ago, Veronika told me my hair looked great. Today she told me it keeps looking better and better. I'm not doing anything differently with it, but it's nice to know she thinks it looks nice.

Neil called tonight to tell me that Abby's running a fever, so they might not make it up for Thanksgiving. She might be feeling better by Thursday, but I still don't think they should take the trip if she's not close to 100% better since she might get worse. She should stay home and rest. What a lonely Thanksgiving it will be if they have to stay home. I'll probably wind up watching some football at Pig N' Whistle or something equally depressing. Or I could completely ignore the day and do school work, but that will be hard to do.

Now I'm not in the mood to watch "Home for the Holidays". I was planning on watching it tonight. I guess I'll still watch it since I went to all the trouble of renting it, but I'm really not in the mood for it, knowing that I might have a family-less Thanksgiving.

Woke up singing" "Another Hundred People" from "Company".

Last night (actually, this morning) I had a vivid dream. I didn't get to sleep until after 5:00 this morning and when the dream woke me up at 9:30, I decided that 4 hours wasn't enough sleep and went back to sleep. When I woke up the second time, I barely remembered the dream. This is all I remember now. I was in a guesthouse in Amsterdam, and Andy, Paula, and Harvey were there. I was looking through the guestbook since I remembered signing it the last 2 times I was there and could only find my name in there once, since the pages didn't go back far enough to see my first stay.

So I finally watched "Home for the Holidays" around 2:00 in the morning. It wasn't as good as I remember it being, but I certainly liked it better than "The Myth of Fingerprints".

I got an email today from someone writing a book on strategic planning and one of the sections is how to write things about yourself. They did a search, found my list and might want to include it in their reference section. Interesting.

I also got an email from a woman in the dance department telling me that she couldn't open my email and gave me a different address. So I sent another email to that address about the Dance Dancer and Audience class but never heard back from her. And I haven't heard from the woman in the Psych department. I'm assuming I'll heard from both of them early next week.

Neil said they took Abby to the doctor today, and he told them that they could come up here tomorrow. So it looks like I will have a family-filled Thanksgiving. I really hope it works out. I don't think they should go to the parade though since it's going to be cold and Abby shouldn't be outside for long periods of time, but it's not my decision.

And Maxine wants to leave at 3:00 in the morning. The parade doesn't start until 9:00 and it's going to be crowded no matter what time you get there, so I don't know why she wants to leave so early. Maybe so the traffic will be lighter? I don't know. But I wish I could get to sleep earlier than I will be getting to sleep tonight so I can be somewhat awake when they get here. And Maxine's father will be coming up with them and will be arriving at my apartment too, so I should at least be dressed and be able to form complete sentences.

So now my apartment is clean, and now that I have nothing else I'm going to do before I leave for the theatre, I'm finally getting tired. I'm usually tired around this time though, so I kind of expected it. I hardly ever feel like going anywhere in the early evening.

Happy Thanksgiving!

About the weather last night:
As I first walked out of my apartment last night, I enjoyed the cold weather. By the time I got to Times Square, it was so windy, I wished I brought a scarf and gloves. When I left the theatre, it was more windy than I'd ever experienced. Seriously, it almost felt like a tornado.

About the show:
I'm glad I went. While the script didn't go into enough detail on all the issues, listening to the language was great- I loved many of the characters' lines, especially the ones coming from Elaine. The cast was above average, with Matt McGrath being just about perfect (and quite attractive). He looked amazingly young though. When I got home, I checked the IMDB to find out how old he is, and he's 33 years old. He didn't look any older than 23 in this production (and really, he looked more like he was 20). It was great sitting in the front row on the centre aisle; I could see everyone perfectly. It was a little strange being so close to them for a few of the scenes, but I just tried not to make eye contact and it was okay.

Neil, Maxine, Abby, and Mr. Gross left later than planned and arrived here around 9:00. Mr. Gross went up to visit his family in the Bronx and Neil, Maxine, Abby, and I went to the parade. I decided to stop to get a drink (which I never got because I didn't want to take the time to wait in the long line), and when I tried to catch up with them, they were nowhere to be seen. Quite a crowd out there. So I went to CVS to pick up my pictures and then stopped and got my Thanksgiving traditional Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks.

They got back here shortly after I did, and we had a little lunch. Paula called while we were eating to wish us a happy Thanksgiving and to tell us about her wonderful times in Europe. So glad she's enjoying herself and accomplishing great things at the same time.

Now Neil, Maxine, and Abby are trying to take a nap and I'm enjoying a little Thanksgiving day football. Go Patriots! The score is currently 10-3 with the Patriots leading in the 2nd quarter with 11:35 to go.

At 4:30, we're having dinner at Marion's.

I've had The Imperial March from "Star Wars" in my head recently.

Dinner was fine. Not much else to say about it.

That night, I went to see "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". I enjoyed some of it, but as it was my least favourite book so far, it will probably be my least favourite movie. It was a tad too long, but they still managed to leave out several parts of the book. I did not like the scene with the giant snake. That thing took up the entire movie screen- it was too much and went on for too long.

Abby woke up sick in the middle of the night- poor thing. She was still vomiting in the morning, and they decided they were going to leave. They packed up all their stuff, and by that time, she managed to keep down juice and a cracker. They said goodbye and about 30 minutes later, they were back. They had gone to FAO Schwartz and then wanted to have lunch before they left. Then they decided it was too late to leave and decided to spend another night.

I managed to run a few errands in the afternoon. I don't think I'll be using Mailboxes Etc. anymore, even though it's convenient. They now have a $3 service charge for leaving your mail with them.

Then I decided to deal with customer service for the 2 bills I wanted to dispute. I called the doctor's office, and they were closed. Then I called RCN, but they weren't answering the phone either. I thought being on hold for 30 minutes was enough and would try again later. I was getting nervous though since they sent a suspension notice a few days ago (because of a bill that I did indeed pay and they're too slow to get their records updated) and they were set to turn off my services by the end of the weekend.

Then I tried to do some research for my Amsterdam paper while Abby was watching her Elmo video. Not an easy thing to do, but I thought I'd try it anyway. Well, that didn't last long since I couldn't view anything online. My service has this new trick where it will check my email, so the service isn't completely down, but it won't let me view any websites.

Soon after that, the service stopped completely. So I took that time to call RCN again. I waited another 30 minutes, but then I actually got to talk to a person. His records showed that I did pay the previous bill and my service would not be suspended. At least that wasn't an issue anymore.

Then Neil & Maxine wanted to order pizza for dinner. Since I couldn't get online (and RCN doesn't give phone books and charges $2 for each call to information), I used my cell phone to call information (which is $1 for each call for information) for a few places that delivered pizza of which I knew the names. The Sprint network was busy, and I was unable to complete my call. Then I decided to pay the $2 charge (it's not the cost, it's the principle) for calling information from my home phone, and my phone didn't work. Ugh. Then suddenly I was able to view webpages, and I got the phone number for a pizza place. My cell phone worked at this point, and I finally was able to order dinner.

Oh, and earlier that morning, I was checking my Virgin Atlantic account information and it locked my account. So at some point, I get to spend more time on the phone with customer service people.

And I dealt with the rest of my mail last night (aside from a few things I couldn't do with all the commotion in my apartment), and now have an issue with AT&T. So I get to spend time on the phone with even more customer service people. I don't think everyone spends as much time as I do calling customer service people for problems that are on their end. I never do anything wrong, it's always the company whose service I use that messes things up and takes up hours of my time sorting it all out. Still, none of these recent things aren't as bad as when I had all the car insurance trouble, when between the postal service and Progressive, I had a royal mess and owned way too much money for something that wasn't my fault. What a nightmare that was! In fact, if it wasn't for the incompetent Arizona DMV, I would have owed even more money and wouldn't have been able to get a New York license. I guess they forgot to follow up on my "illegal" actions. At least I had good luck with one thing.

So Neil, Maxine, and Abby left this morning. I was going to relax for a short time before getting into the hundred things I have to do the rest of this weekend and watch some things I taped while they were here, but I think they took that video by mistake when they were packing up Abby's videos. Oh well, I don't really have time to relax anyway.

As I started getting the apartment back together, Jay called. I suppose it would have been better to call him back after I had at least started something, but he so rarely calls, I didn't want to take a chance of calling him back and him not answering the phone. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I decided to start doing research for the Amsterdam paper rather than clean the apartment. I'll do the cleaning later. And at some point, I'll have to find time to take the comforter to the dry cleaners. I guess I'll do that on Monday.

So even though we're not supposed to only use online resources for this paper, he's going to have to deal with me only having online resources. I'm not taking the time to go to the library. I don't even know what I could find at a library. I don't even know how I'll be organising this paper. I really need to get cracking.

So today I'll do the research and organise my Amsterdam paper, review the streaming video on the website for my music paper, read the chapter in the book that coresponds with the video, and then write the music paper, contact the people in my group for the LES project, and clean up the apartment. Tomorrow I'll start writing the Amsterdam paper (it would be nice to finish it tomorrow, but I think it's too much to finish in one day) and do my theatre journal. I don't know if I'll be able to get all this done this weekend, but I don't really have a choice.

I emailed Andy about his day in Manhattan (pictures included), so now I'll write about it here:
I walked out the apartment, not really sure where I was going. I decided to go east and took a walk by the river. It was a gorgeous day (except it was a little too windy), and I felt totally relaxed (even though I had a ton to get done that weekend). I walked up to 79th and even though I wasn't hungry, I didn't want to end my morning yet, so I went to The Barking Dog for brunch. It was a perfect way to spend a morning, and I'm so glad I made the time for it.

Today feels like a Monday. So glad it's not.

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