Self-Indulgent Ramblings

You know those Fridays that just can’t end soon enough? This is one of them. It’s 10:07 (my computer clock reads 10:25, my office phone clock reads 10:02, but really it’s 10:07) and I can’t wait for this day to be over. I have been slogging through survey results and spreadsheets all week. I stayed out far too late with a couple of friends - one who has an early day job like me, and the other who is more of a creature of the night. My guess is that he was not out of bed by the time I had already been at work for an hour. Ah… how I wish that were me! But here I am at work, trying to answer questions through my “I only slept 3 and a half hours” fog, trying to focus, trying to accomplish something… when all I really want to do is crawl under my desk and take a nap. I do feel like there’s a small light at the end of this tunnel though. As far as evening theatre commitments go, Sunday should begin a couple weeks of hiatus… much needed hiatus. Of course, during that time I’ll still be running the damn theatre during the day, and I’ll be calling people all over the country to talk about labor unions… so my time will certainly not be my own.

Still… I continue to fantasize about sitting on my ass and doing nothing as a I try to piece together mildly intelligent sentences and hope no one notices as my head bobs toward my keyboard.

Good times.

Okay… my political leanings are toward the left, but I enjoy making fun of politicians on either side of the aisle. Well… I just finished watching the very first Democratic Candidates’ Forum of the 2008 election. And may I just say… it was frickin’ hysterical. Most of the people were pretty uneventful. “Bush Bad. Me Good. Me Stop War.” Blah blah blah. Fine. But there were a few highlights.

Joe Biden, whose main claim to fame in this campaign promises to be how many times he can stick his foot in his mouth, spouted off about all those intelligent women for whom teaching was their only option approaching retirement age. Problem? It was such a blatant “teaching is a woman’s job” sort of statement, men and women both can’t help but be a little offended. Way to go Joe!

Then came everyone’s favorite munchkin, Dennis Kucinich. Aside from my astonishment that he was back for more (and the reminder of how much he looks like Alfred E. Newman), he spent a lot of breath on crazy. Ending with a charming dance number from Pinocchio in which he spun around repeatedly with his arms out getting the audience to chant along that they needed a president with “NO STRINGS!” George Stephanopolous was tickled.

Little did he know that the final candidate would be all the more amusing. Mike Gravel walked onto the stage and the three of us who were watching had no idea who he was. Even more curious… he had no designation beside his name. He’s not in the house. He’s not in the Senate. He’s not a Governor or a Mayor. He’s just Democratic Presidential Candidate 2008. Hmm. Then we got the info. He was a Senator from Alaska… from 1969-1981!!! Among his passionate and confusing rantings, he made references to Lyndon Johnson! He demanded extra time from George on his response. He informed everyone that he most certainly made the least money of any of the candidates. We began to wonder whether he had simply shown up at the forum in hopes of getting a hot meal. And then we looked him up on Wikipedia. And oh, how happy we were to see his headshot. Check it out.

So, against all odds, it ended up being a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

Okay, I don’t care if it’s President’s Day or Lincoln’s Birthday or National Chocolate Mint Day (and it is). I just love the fact that it’s a normal work day and I don’t have to be at work. Some people actually are working today. Many are not. But whatever the case, I got to stay in bed a little later. And now I’m sitting on my {gulp} boyfriend’s couch watching Serenity for the ten thousandth time. I have some things to do today - grocery shopping, pre production work for directing The Vagina Monologues, season selection meeting - but overall, I plan on spending a lot of time on couches watching a lot of things by Joss Whedon. I’m actually working my way through the first season of Angel right now. Not nearly as good as Buffy, but it has its moments. A day feels better when I don’t have to go to the office, you know? Especially a day like a Monday, which would normally include all sorts of exciting sitting at my desk.

Okay… I am not an American Idol freak, but I was hanging out with my {gulp} boyfriend’s {gulp} 13-year-old daughter on Wednesday night, and that’s what we were watching. Well, it was pretty unremarkable until they introduced one of the contestants and I sat bolt-upright. Rudy Cardenas isn’t exactly “Joe Smith” as common names go, so I payed attention. And sure enough… it was this guy who was a year older than me in high school. We weren’t friends, by any means. He was cool and I was… um… not. But I remember him. So there ya go. Now I have an actual semi-personal connection to American Idol. Though I’ll admit, I’m really rooting for that Chris Sligh guy from Greenville. {shrug} Either way… I’ll count Rudy as my six degrees of something.

This article is both hysterical and my idea of Hell. I think that hiccups are incredibly funny, but I assume that they’d lose their entertainment value after a while. Holy crap! I mean seriously, if she were trapped in an amusement park or an arcade too, it really WOULD be my idea of Hell.

Well, I just returned from spending the weekend in Memphis, TN (Thank you, thank you very much) sitting with reps from 103 theatre companies across the country watching roughly 600-700 actors who all want jobs. It was nuts. Our days were packed from 9-5 with 90 second auditions, headshots and resumes… then callbacks at our discretion until midnight-ish. It was a difficult experience, as someone who’s usually on the other end of these auditions to be callous enough to write nasty notes to myself and toss their resumes in the “no thank you” pile. Of course, I did it… so I guess it wasn’t that difficult.

One of the more painful aspects of the weekend was the food situation. Mostly, I just plain didn’t have time to hunt down food in a strange city with no transportation of my own. So I was pretty much limited to the food that they provided… so I mostly subsisted on donuts and Red Bull. It was disgusting. Occasionally some apples would show up on the table, which I would devour as if I hadn’t eaten in weeks.

At any rate… the whole process was interesting and I think my brains might melt out my ears with all the people I saw. I’ll say this - if I never hear “My White Knight” or the Emilia monologue from Othello ever again, it will be too soon. I’m not sure why those were so prevalent… but holy crap ladies! Come up with something new!!

I have this coworker. His name is Billy. He’s a copywriter. And he is infamous around here for firing off hysterical emails. We keep threatening to start a separate blog just for the purpose of posting the ridiculous stuff he sends around the office. Today we got this exchange:

Hapless coworker 1:
To: The Team
Subject: Where’s Carrie?
Message: “Meeting the plumber to clogging kitchen sink.”

Billy:
To: The Team
Subject: Where’s Carrie?
Message: “You’re so lucky. I LOVE clogging. That lord of the dance dude is my hero.”

I’ll have to post the email he sent when his wife had their fourth baby last week. Holy crap.

Gotta love a smartass.