Long post is long
As I supposed it would be, my week away from the internet has been very easy to pull off, mostly due to timing. In fact, it will probably happen again next week by default, all the more for the fact that hell week truly begins on Sunday for The Sound of Music.
So here's what I've been up to:
New Job:
Training is a grueling but unavoidable process. Tuesday was especially rough (information overload, panic that you'll never pick up any of this, not being the master of your own day...) I think one of the tech support guys was flirting with me at one point. He had a nice voice and a very confident charm, so that was kind of fun. Yesterday I got a chance to reorganize and clean my new working space, which is always gratifying. All in all, just basic new job stuff. At least I already know the computer systems, for the most part.
Rehearsal:
Last night was rough. I'm not going to lie. My poor brother (who is directing this monster) has had a couple of things working against him. One is spotty attendance due to schedule conflicts since the beginning. We'll go whole weeks without one von Trapp child or other (this week it's Kurt). The second, and bigger, problem, is that we've only had access to our actual performance venue since the beginning of last week, and this place isn't really a theater, it's sort of a fellowship hall for the local Lutheran church and it happens to have cushy seats. A step up from prior years, when the performances were held in the basement of the Methodist church, but we're still extremely limited on some fundamental theatrical elements.
In this case, our only real entrance and exit points are behind the audience, which causes a wide range of logistical and timing nightmares. Matt has had to stop and tweak a lot of his pre-established blocking as we go along, and then people have the worst time retaining what he tells them to do. Also, for some reason, the room itself has a troubling effect upon our Maria's voice. I suspect it might be the stuffiness and the dust from the carpet. She's doing her best, though.
We'll get there. It always comes together in the end. :-)
Embroidery:
I'm not as far along as I'd like, but I have been working diligently every evening this week. I have exactly two and a half designs to finish on the first side of the center panel. Clearly, embroidery will continue to be a part of my life even after SoM, but since mom and I started watching Leverage together, I will still have a good means of sitting myself down and forcing myself to work on it.
It looks amazing, btw. Every time I complete one of the designs and spread out the cloth to view the progress, the happy place in my heart twinges a little bit.
Book reading:
I finally finished In the Earth Abides the Flame but have yet to get around to my blog write-up.
Then I went and bought Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I haven't read her other series and didn't realize until I started it that this new series is a prequel set in the same world. This hit my radar because grav_ity's other friend Faith did a write-up of it on blogger and said it wasn't half bad. Plus, I admit, I really love the cover. I seem to be picking up on some of the aforementioned grav_ity's fixation with Victorian-ish things. ;-) At any rate, without anything spoilery, I found it a very enjoyable read, if a smidge more grim than my usual tastes. But I like my fantasy with a broad range of characters (and ship possibilities) to choose from, and this was certainly that.
Also, there's one particular bit that made me wonder if Ms. Clare is an Avatar:tLA fan. If any of you read it, it's on page 333 of the American HC printing. In fact, even if you don't plan on reading it, just pick up a copy somewhere and skim page 333. You'll laugh. (If you know your A:tLA). ;-)
Having finished Clockwork Angel, I'm finally getting around to The Throne of Fire. After that it will be the 1st book in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, something I suspect from reading the first page of the prologue, will be an instant super-favorite.
Weekend plans:
Merlin - My cousins are coming over tonight as well as their friend Regina, and we are going to spend the evening watching Merlin (BBC).
There's a story behind this.
Regina is thirteen... maybe fourteen, now. I don't think I've ever known her birthday. At any rate, she is a Twilight fan. Now we all know my very strong and easily-provoked feelings on Twilight, but I've done my very, very best around Regina to not shove my strong feelings down her throat in an alarming way. We've had a couple of very thoughtful conversations on the matter. She was a pretty big Edward Cullen fan, and strong Team Edward proponent.
A couple of months ago, however, she told me that she's over Edward Cullen. Her new TV crush is Arthur from Merlin. I was very happy to hear this. As TV boyfriends go, you could do a LOT worse than Arthur Pendragon. He's handsome, honorable in the big moments, obnoxious in the small (lots of room for growing up), and adorably dense most of the time. Mostly, he's not "perfect" and he doesn't sparkle or stalk people. ;-)
So Regina and I have decided to introduce Kathryn and Jacqueline to Merlin. They're coming over around 7:00 tonight. Since we probably only have time for 5 or 6 and this will likely not be a recurring occasion, I think we'll probably end up jumping around and watching the best eps of S1 and S2. (In the case of S2, this means mostly the Arthur/Gwen eps. Heh). I'll have to look over the ep descriptions and confer with Regina. :-)
We'll definitely kick it off with my trailer for an intro, though. Bwuwhahaha.
Hamlet - Tomorrow night, three of mine and Matt's mutual brainiac friends are coming over for a cookout and then we're going to watch Hamlet (the version with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. Tirzah and I were both blown away by it the first time we watched it together). I have to go to get stuff to grill right after work. Burgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob. Should be great fun.
Whew! Glad to get all that out of my system!
So here's what I've been up to:
New Job:
Training is a grueling but unavoidable process. Tuesday was especially rough (information overload, panic that you'll never pick up any of this, not being the master of your own day...) I think one of the tech support guys was flirting with me at one point. He had a nice voice and a very confident charm, so that was kind of fun. Yesterday I got a chance to reorganize and clean my new working space, which is always gratifying. All in all, just basic new job stuff. At least I already know the computer systems, for the most part.
Rehearsal:
Last night was rough. I'm not going to lie. My poor brother (who is directing this monster) has had a couple of things working against him. One is spotty attendance due to schedule conflicts since the beginning. We'll go whole weeks without one von Trapp child or other (this week it's Kurt). The second, and bigger, problem, is that we've only had access to our actual performance venue since the beginning of last week, and this place isn't really a theater, it's sort of a fellowship hall for the local Lutheran church and it happens to have cushy seats. A step up from prior years, when the performances were held in the basement of the Methodist church, but we're still extremely limited on some fundamental theatrical elements.
In this case, our only real entrance and exit points are behind the audience, which causes a wide range of logistical and timing nightmares. Matt has had to stop and tweak a lot of his pre-established blocking as we go along, and then people have the worst time retaining what he tells them to do. Also, for some reason, the room itself has a troubling effect upon our Maria's voice. I suspect it might be the stuffiness and the dust from the carpet. She's doing her best, though.
We'll get there. It always comes together in the end. :-)
Embroidery:
I'm not as far along as I'd like, but I have been working diligently every evening this week. I have exactly two and a half designs to finish on the first side of the center panel. Clearly, embroidery will continue to be a part of my life even after SoM, but since mom and I started watching Leverage together, I will still have a good means of sitting myself down and forcing myself to work on it.
It looks amazing, btw. Every time I complete one of the designs and spread out the cloth to view the progress, the happy place in my heart twinges a little bit.
Book reading:
I finally finished In the Earth Abides the Flame but have yet to get around to my blog write-up.
Then I went and bought Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I haven't read her other series and didn't realize until I started it that this new series is a prequel set in the same world. This hit my radar because grav_ity's other friend Faith did a write-up of it on blogger and said it wasn't half bad. Plus, I admit, I really love the cover. I seem to be picking up on some of the aforementioned grav_ity's fixation with Victorian-ish things. ;-) At any rate, without anything spoilery, I found it a very enjoyable read, if a smidge more grim than my usual tastes. But I like my fantasy with a broad range of characters (and ship possibilities) to choose from, and this was certainly that.
Also, there's one particular bit that made me wonder if Ms. Clare is an Avatar:tLA fan. If any of you read it, it's on page 333 of the American HC printing. In fact, even if you don't plan on reading it, just pick up a copy somewhere and skim page 333. You'll laugh. (If you know your A:tLA). ;-)
Having finished Clockwork Angel, I'm finally getting around to The Throne of Fire. After that it will be the 1st book in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, something I suspect from reading the first page of the prologue, will be an instant super-favorite.
Weekend plans:
Merlin - My cousins are coming over tonight as well as their friend Regina, and we are going to spend the evening watching Merlin (BBC).
There's a story behind this.
Regina is thirteen... maybe fourteen, now. I don't think I've ever known her birthday. At any rate, she is a Twilight fan. Now we all know my very strong and easily-provoked feelings on Twilight, but I've done my very, very best around Regina to not shove my strong feelings down her throat in an alarming way. We've had a couple of very thoughtful conversations on the matter. She was a pretty big Edward Cullen fan, and strong Team Edward proponent.
A couple of months ago, however, she told me that she's over Edward Cullen. Her new TV crush is Arthur from Merlin. I was very happy to hear this. As TV boyfriends go, you could do a LOT worse than Arthur Pendragon. He's handsome, honorable in the big moments, obnoxious in the small (lots of room for growing up), and adorably dense most of the time. Mostly, he's not "perfect" and he doesn't sparkle or stalk people. ;-)
So Regina and I have decided to introduce Kathryn and Jacqueline to Merlin. They're coming over around 7:00 tonight. Since we probably only have time for 5 or 6 and this will likely not be a recurring occasion, I think we'll probably end up jumping around and watching the best eps of S1 and S2. (In the case of S2, this means mostly the Arthur/Gwen eps. Heh). I'll have to look over the ep descriptions and confer with Regina. :-)
We'll definitely kick it off with my trailer for an intro, though. Bwuwhahaha.
Hamlet - Tomorrow night, three of mine and Matt's mutual brainiac friends are coming over for a cookout and then we're going to watch Hamlet (the version with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. Tirzah and I were both blown away by it the first time we watched it together). I have to go to get stuff to grill right after work. Burgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob. Should be great fun.
Whew! Glad to get all that out of my system!