Life Continues Crazy
I started this year feeling despondent that nothing was going on. I had no plans for unusual activities or grand adventures. Then I was sidelined by my broken collarbone, which made any grand adventures impossible if I had any.
I think I made up for that in the second half of 2024 and continue to do so.
This is the last weekend of Tootsie. I feel as if the show has become ingrained into me. It's a part of my life as much as the barn or my job. It's another thing I do. Soon it will be all over. It is going to be a huge letdown. The last show I did with Curtain Call didn't hit me hard when it ended because I wasn't fond of the director, the cast was cliquey, and I didn't have much to do. For this show I poured a huge amount of effort, my entire heart and soul, into it. I love the cast. I love the director. It will be hard to let go of this one.
So far three of my theater friends, Mom, Dad, Beth, and Erik have shown up for performances. I have a coworker who said he is coming to the final performance on Saturday night. The hardest part about doing this show was the lack of people I had coming to see me. It really was rough having no one in the audience night after night.
Sunday is our anniversary on top of that. I will be doing the set strike from mid morning to early afternoon. Kevin will be spending the late afternoon in a rehearsal for Stage Kiss. We won't see each other until dinner. We plan to have dinner at Rani Mahal, the Indian restaurant down the street. It has always been a local favorite with us, but we haven't eaten there in a while. The dining room is huge, but they tend to do way more takeout business than dine-in, so we don't have to worry about reservations, which will make life easier for us.
There is no rest for the wicked though. The haunted house starts this weekend and next weekend I will be working there as a guide until the second of November. I was crazy to sign up for this. I will have to work Thursdays through Sundays with six hours of continuous tours every night along with set up and clean up. It will be worth it though. It's a paid gig. I will be paid $20 per hour. By the time it's all over I will have made $2000. I can't say no to that kind of money after all the financial issues I have had this year. I will do 13 performances in October and early November. I will miss the night of Anthony's wedding and the night I go see a performance of Kevin's play, but otherwise I am working all weekend every weekend. I can get through it and sleep again in November.
I am getting anxious about Thanksgiving plans. Will we stay home and go to Mom's or will we spend it with Kevin's family? Bob and Susan are in South Korea right now, so they aren't thinking about holiday plans. We have to wait until they come back to discuss. This is making me nervous because Mom wants me to bring the turkey to Thanksgiving and I like to order them fresh from one of the farm market vendors. He's going to start taking orders soon, so I have to know if I am going to need to do that or not.
Now I'm also dealing with December plans. The Metropolitan Opera is doing an English language version of The Magic Flute, directed by Julie Taymor, in December. The advertisements make it look like a gorgeous, breathtaking spectacle. Kevin and I decided we want to go, but again, there is always a conflict. We want to go on a Friday so I can go there directly after work and we don't have to rush to the city after a day at the barn. We picked December 13th for a date (but thank goodness didn't buy tickets). Then Kevin found out his company holiday party is that day. The party is in Culver City, CA where the company headquarters are. Going there will be a big deal. We were planning to go last year, but I wasn't keen on going. There is nothing to do in the area when the party isn't happening. There is nothing interesting near the hotel everyone is staying at (where I think the party is) and the hotel doesn't even have a pool. I ended up having something else to do so he had to go alone. Kevin then decided he would fly there, attend the party, and come back the same night. He ended up scrapping the idea. Now he feels obligated to go because he missed it last year. I don't want to go with him if the party is on a Friday. I have taken enough time off work and I want to save my remaining vacation days for the end of the year.
There are plenty of other nights we can go see the show. I just want to confirm which night we will go. I don't want to go too close to Christmas because I might be making Christmas dinner and will want plenty of time to prepare. If we go after Christmas, it will be winter break and the city will be a crush of tourist hell. We need to pick the 6th or the 13th if we want to go on a Friday night. Maybe the 20th will work. I will have three or four days to prepare for Christmas. I should consider it. I won't let myself get too worked up on this one.