Forgot to post about last weekend
Christmas is on THURSDAY!!!! AHH!!! Alas I have to work on Friday, so I only get a day and a half off this week. I also get a day and a half off next week. It's weird. However, we have a show opening on January 9th, and there is still a lot to do on our end before we are ready!
Last weekend, I had the immense joy of hanging out with my friend Maureen. She graduated from UCI same year as me. We both went abroad during our time at Irvine. She went to England for a year. We got tasty Thai food on Ventura Blvd, this massive street that is full of tasty eateries and stradles a few different areas in the Valley. Afterward, we went over to BPAL (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab). We had a lot of fun smelling the Shakespeare characters. The bad people smelled terrible! We thought it was funny that we both liked the smell of the ingenues best, like Ophelia and Desdemona. Lady Macbeth was too strong! They had the Neil Gaiman scents out, including the new ones for The Graveyard Book. "Banana Peel in a Graveyard" was disgusting and wonderful. I would never wear it, but what they do there is so creative I had to appreciate it. My favorite of the night was "Victoria." I put a bit on a piece of paper so I could smell it later. The end notes are lovely!! I think I am going to get a larger version of that. It was super awesome to introduce Maureen to this because I generally think of BPAL as part of my geeky life that a lot of people at Irvine aren't aware of. Not that I hide it! I just don't have many people to squee about BPAL with that aren't among my LJ flist, for example. And the part about BPAL I love the most is how it explores the smell of some of my favorite characters in novels such as Stardust, which I think was the second Gaiman novel I read, after Neverwhere. When I was home last week, I finally found my old copy of Stardust. Woo!! More Gaiman books to populate my bookshelf.
Speaking of books, is Anansi Boys good? It took me a very long to get through American Gods, though I did like that book a lot. It was just very complex for me lol. Also, I now have a deep love for Gaiman's blog. It's cool to be able to connect with him, even if it is indirect- I read but don't e-mail so he is unaware of my existence.
Last weekend was also another show woo!! I didn't work on this one, production wise. I did, however, design the program! I will scan a copy of the front cover soon. It turned out really nice! I took lots of pictures during the show. Since the show was through my day job, I got to sit in the front, which really helped the quality of my pictures. Maybe I'll post a few later? The performers were outstanding, of course. LA is a pretty big musical theatre town. Performers work all over the area- Ventura County, where I am, all the way down to Orange County! In fact, the director of our last summer show and the star will be in a production of The Producers in Orange County. People drive a lot here... ;) That is what is hindering me in my stage management career. I mean, I have a sweet day job in the industry where my heart lies. Given that I am so far from LA, I can't really pick up anything in the evening there. If I were to move and focus on stage management in the LAish area, I think I would be driving a hell of a lot more. I have a friend who lives in NoHo and works at Disneyland. She has at least an hour commute. Then, she also does shows with my company, which is probably an hour north of NoHo, and that is not with traffic. Add on the film work she does, say, in the South Bay area, and dear GOD that is a lot of driving!
I think I am going to New Mexico in January!!! Martin Luther King, Jr. day is the Monday after we close our show. I don't think I need to be in town for the second weekend, especially if other office people are around. If I take the train, it's about $105!!! Yes, it is 16 hours in a train. I'm not getting a room because it is not worth it. Most of the trip, both there and back, is overnight, so I know I will sleep. Yea for a vacation!!
Last weekend, I had the immense joy of hanging out with my friend Maureen. She graduated from UCI same year as me. We both went abroad during our time at Irvine. She went to England for a year. We got tasty Thai food on Ventura Blvd, this massive street that is full of tasty eateries and stradles a few different areas in the Valley. Afterward, we went over to BPAL (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab). We had a lot of fun smelling the Shakespeare characters. The bad people smelled terrible! We thought it was funny that we both liked the smell of the ingenues best, like Ophelia and Desdemona. Lady Macbeth was too strong! They had the Neil Gaiman scents out, including the new ones for The Graveyard Book. "Banana Peel in a Graveyard" was disgusting and wonderful. I would never wear it, but what they do there is so creative I had to appreciate it. My favorite of the night was "Victoria." I put a bit on a piece of paper so I could smell it later. The end notes are lovely!! I think I am going to get a larger version of that. It was super awesome to introduce Maureen to this because I generally think of BPAL as part of my geeky life that a lot of people at Irvine aren't aware of. Not that I hide it! I just don't have many people to squee about BPAL with that aren't among my LJ flist, for example. And the part about BPAL I love the most is how it explores the smell of some of my favorite characters in novels such as Stardust, which I think was the second Gaiman novel I read, after Neverwhere. When I was home last week, I finally found my old copy of Stardust. Woo!! More Gaiman books to populate my bookshelf.
Speaking of books, is Anansi Boys good? It took me a very long to get through American Gods, though I did like that book a lot. It was just very complex for me lol. Also, I now have a deep love for Gaiman's blog. It's cool to be able to connect with him, even if it is indirect- I read but don't e-mail so he is unaware of my existence.
Last weekend was also another show woo!! I didn't work on this one, production wise. I did, however, design the program! I will scan a copy of the front cover soon. It turned out really nice! I took lots of pictures during the show. Since the show was through my day job, I got to sit in the front, which really helped the quality of my pictures. Maybe I'll post a few later? The performers were outstanding, of course. LA is a pretty big musical theatre town. Performers work all over the area- Ventura County, where I am, all the way down to Orange County! In fact, the director of our last summer show and the star will be in a production of The Producers in Orange County. People drive a lot here... ;) That is what is hindering me in my stage management career. I mean, I have a sweet day job in the industry where my heart lies. Given that I am so far from LA, I can't really pick up anything in the evening there. If I were to move and focus on stage management in the LAish area, I think I would be driving a hell of a lot more. I have a friend who lives in NoHo and works at Disneyland. She has at least an hour commute. Then, she also does shows with my company, which is probably an hour north of NoHo, and that is not with traffic. Add on the film work she does, say, in the South Bay area, and dear GOD that is a lot of driving!
I think I am going to New Mexico in January!!! Martin Luther King, Jr. day is the Monday after we close our show. I don't think I need to be in town for the second weekend, especially if other office people are around. If I take the train, it's about $105!!! Yes, it is 16 hours in a train. I'm not getting a room because it is not worth it. Most of the trip, both there and back, is overnight, so I know I will sleep. Yea for a vacation!!