Suddenly Spring

When I left DC to go to the Bahamas in early March for a wedding [yea...tan in March..don't you hate me?? and its real...no fake bake crap] it was still cold and winter like. We went to Nassau, enjoyed great 75+ degree weather, came back with a sunburn [see photos] and a bottle of rum. All in all we had a great time. Back to DC and the next weekend its 70 and nearly 80 degrees as if we'd skipped Spring altogether and went to Summer -- not too bad but I like just a bit of Spring before my Summer. Now its more like 55 degrees, the flowers are blooming, the cherry trees are getting ready to burst into bloom and the festival is just around the corner. If you've never been to DC during the peak bloom of the Cherry Trees, then you just haven't seen faerie land...but then again, maybe that's not a place you'd like to visit anyway.

Since I last posted, here's what's been going on in my life ...

• Been elected President of the DC Triathlon Club
• Sold my old bike [getting rid of things I don't use AND generating cash...whoopie!!]
• Am going to Boston to visit a friend this weekend
• Planning a trip to Dublin, Ireland AND Rome, Italy [amazingly its cheaper to do a stay over in Dublin than to fly directly to Rome...go figure]
• Nearly finished with a branding project for the agency of the Department of Commerce where I've been working for almost 9 years...yikes...I'm sprouting roots.

That's all I got...plus I found out that I won't be able to attend my cousin's wedding since its the same day that I'm racing in my first ever 1/2 Ironman event...some may say "hey, its a race; this is family. Which is more important?" To which I say, "Sorry Diane, I hope you can forgive me my choice of putting myself through gruling physical and mental pain over coming to beautiful South Carolina to celebrate your marriage with you and your family" ... I really am sorry.

If I ever get married, I'll forgive you if you can't make it too...it doesn't mean I don't love you.

Opening Night

Friday went well. After a hellacious Hell Week, during which we rehearsed until ten-thirty each night, a warm crowd gathered to greet the opening of The Hobbit at the Chesapeake Arts Center.

I run sound and fog for the show, which is a tech-heavy hour-long bastard of Tolkien's work. Imagine: it was produced with eight dwarves instead of twelve, though the 'unlucky thirteen' is made much of; elves are mentioned only once and never seen. The goblins are comic villans; Gollum was cast because the actor could imitate the voice of the movie actor, and did. She is nearly incomprehensible, but moves well. There is no mention of the mines of Moria, and nobody travels downriver in a barrel.

I have a few problems with the script, obviously.

The lighting design is nice, very moody, and helps create a 'set' using few pieces in many ways. The tech booth is crowded with the lighting tech, (Carla, mom to Garrett's pal Angelica who plays Balin the dwarf, and wife to Mark, who plays Gandalf), Stage Manager Extraordinaire Kelly (mother to Matt, playing Thorin Oakenshield, and wife to Tom in multiple roles...storytelller at the beginning, goblin in the middle, and the voice of Smaug towards the end), Tom, doing vocals on the mike, and then there’s me, fiddling with sound cues, both live and pre-recorded. Dot is outside the tech booth manning (womanning?) the spotlight. One whole side of the stage is lost to me, as I'm squashed behind the sound mixer, with the view further blocked by the spotlight outside. Fortunately, only two or three cues come from that side of the stage. The fog machine is also on that side of the stage.

The fog machine is cranky and it hates me.

Behind the scenes is Dee, working set changes, and assorted parents doing what can only be referred to as cat herding.

By Friday, we’re all exhausted. Some of us are sick. But we have a show, and it looks good. Everything runs according to plan, and our audience goes home happy.

After the cast takes a curtain call to the wildly improbable, highly illogical Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, it is time for treats. TechQueens high-five one another. Dot and I share a toast of wine in small pocket-sized bottles. There is birthday cake, it being Tom's birthday today. Garrett and I go to Friendly's for ice cream with the rest of the cast and our own personal entourage: Hawk, Alaina, Mother, and my friends Ginny and Spence. Ginny is my performance partner, Gigi, whom no one knows until she sends everyone a
link to her website where she posts pictures of Opening Night, but Spencer is something of a celebrity. He is Slash, of Hack and Slash, of Maryland Renaissance Festival fame. Groupies abound in this youngish, hip cast. (Not hipcast, Daddy. Hip cast.) They giggle and Spence blushes.

This week, in addition to our regular schedule of Friday night, Saturday matinee, Saturday night we have a Thursday night performance, for a group that I'm not at all sure will actually fit into the small theatre.

Wish us luck.

Er, on second thought, it's considered unlucky. Wish us broken legs instead.

Arizona!

Don and I went to Arizona in early February. Ostensibly, we went for Don's dad's 70th birthday party, but actually we went for margaritas and sloppy Mexican food. Oh, and in a happy coincidence, my daddy moved there recently too. I wasn't bright enough to take pictures of his house or anything, but I did get a few pics of the old man and Mary Ann.

Me, Dad and Mary Ann at the lake.
Uhm, it was windy - that's why my hair is a disaster area. No, really.













Me, Dad and Monkey in Oatman. Oatman is an old gold mining town, famous because it is on Route 66 and because there are random burros wandering the streets. Apparently them ol' miner-types just turned the critters loose after thar weren't no more gold in them thar hills and their offspring went feral.







Got me a burro buddy!













We had more Arizona adventures, but I'm gonna add them to our Monkey Blog. Later.