All the World's a Stage

A new year, a new blog

2009-01-09T12:24:00.002-06:00

I've been posting to this blog for a few years now. However, I've decided to move all my posts to another Blogger address that more closely relates to my website address, my email address, and my business name. So, this is the last entry that I will post here at this address. I'm hoping you will follow me to the new blog at My World's a Stage. Once there, remember to update your bookmarks or bloglist.

Please, come visit me at my new blog home!

The actors are come hither, my lord (2008 wrap-up)

2009-01-08T14:48:00.009-06:00

“The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral; scene individable, or poem unlimited….” Polonius, regarding the visiting acting troupe in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

It’s that time of year again! Time for the list of professional theatre productions I saw in the previous year. After putting together my list, I realized that I saw fewer plays in 2008 than in 2007. Blasphemy! (39 in ’07 and 33 in ’08). I didn’t see fewer plays because there were fewer to see… I just didn’t have time to see as many. Looking at my list, I can also see that I pretty much blew off seeing theatre in the last couple months of the year. Too busy trying to get my website up and creating product to put on that website. There are only so many free hours in a day! Choices had to be made. ;-)

So, here’s the list (in alphabetical order):

Antigone – St. Louis Actors Studio
Assassins – New Line Theatre
Bluish – New Jewish Theatre
Chaim’s Love Song – New Jewish Theatre
Cherry Docs – New Jewish Theatre
A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline – Ivory Theatre
Comedy of Errors – St. Louis Shakespeare
Edwin Drood – Overdue Theatre Company
A Fire As Bright As Heaven – St. Louis Actors Studio
Hair – New Line Theatre
High Fidelity – New Line Theatre
Killing Women – Hot City Theatre
King Lear – St. Louis Shakespeare
KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park – Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre
Ladyhouse Blues – ACT, Inc.
Lieutenant of Inishmore – The Rep Off-Ramp
Little Dog Laughed – The Rep Off-Ramp
Mary’s Wedding – Echo Theatre
Measure for Measure – Mustard Seed Theatre
Men with Clubs – Hot City Theatre
Night of the Iguana – Muddy Waters Theatre
Odyssey – St. Louis Shakespeare
Road to Mecca – The Orange Girls
Romantic Age – ACT, Inc.
Romeo & Juliet – St. Louis Shakespeare
The Scene – Hot City Theatre
Scorched – The Orange Girls
Smoke on the Mountain – Mustard Seed Theatre
Snapshots – St. Louis Actors Studio
Tale of the Allergist’s Wife – New Jewish Theatre
Vieux Carre – Muddy Waters Theatre
The Waiting Room – St. Louis Actors Studio
War of the Worlds – St. Louis Shakespeare

And as I ask myself every year: what was my favorite production? What was my least favorite? (I NEVER answer this question in print.) Here are my top 5 favorites (in alphabetical order):

Cherry Docs
Comedy of Errors
KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park
Mary’s Wedding
Scorched

None of these productions were seen by me in my guise of Kevin Kline Awards Judge. My judging duties start now in 2009. So, next year when I do my wrap-up of plays that I’ve seen, I will be leaving out the part where I pick my five favorites.

If you’d like to see my lists from previous years, click here for the 2007 list, here for the 2006 list and here for 2005 (and previous).

I’d love it if you left a comment telling me what your favorite productions were this year. Even if you’re not in St. Louis, let me know what plays you loved in your city!

Rocking out on the treadmill

2009-01-05T15:42:00.002-06:00

I made a really fabulous discovery this weekend: Rounded ceiling dormers are a singers best friend!

While doing my time on the treadmill with my iPod blasting in my ears, I came across a song I just had to sing along with: Heart’s Magic Man. Now, sure, I sang for years as a karaoke host but I stopped doing that 10 years ago. I could never sing Heart even when I was singing four nights a week. My range wasn’t wide enough to hit those high notes. But suddenly, there in that rounded dormer, I was Ann Wilson! ha! Well, one song led to another and I was singing along with Sonny & Cher, Lulu, Dusty Springfield, The Supremes, Led Zeppelin (hey, hey mama said the way you move…) Petula Clark, T. Rex, The Cure, Chris Isaak, Alannah Myles (black velvet in the little boy’s smile…), Rick James, Prince, and the Talking Heads. Yes, you guessed it… I had the iPod on shuffle so I was getting any old kind of music. But the point is that before I knew it, I had been walking and singing on the treadmill for over an hour. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun! I’m looking forward to doing it again tonight, but I’ll have to time myself because an hour on the treadmill is more time than I have available this evening.

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I took down the tree this weekend and put away most of the holiday decorations. I still have the white lights in the windows. I wish I could leave them on year-round because I love the way they shine onto the front porch.

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I finally (yippee!) have Romeo & Juliet video available for the cast and crew. After spending days (literally) fighting with my old computer, I was finally able to get dvd masters made. At this point, though, I am so disgusted with my computer that I refuse to use it to make dvd copies from my masters. Instead, I will use My-Guys computer, which is much more reliable and faster to boot!

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I hope you had a fabulous holiday season. We did, and we’re looking forward to an exciting 2009.

hope you had a holly jolly

2008-12-30T12:23:00.000-06:00

It’s been a while since I’ve updated. I’m not sure where to start.

A couple days before Xmas I was cleaning the house and getting things ready for the family to visit. One of the things I always like to do at Xmas is shoot a bit of video when all of us are there together. So, I got out the camcorder, loaded up a new mini-dv tape and started walking around the house shooting any old thing that happened. Or at least I thought I was. Turns out that the camera only shot the first couple seconds and then went blank. I tried changing the battery, changing the tape, turning it off then back on to reset it. Nothing worked.

I voiced my frustration to My-Guy and he replied, “Well, I guess I know what to get you for Xmas.” So, a bad thing turned out to be a really good thing. I immediately got online and researched camcorders in my price range. I knew that I didn’t need High Definition because we don’t have any hi-def tv’s or dvd players. Also, I knew that my computer didn’t have the power to process hi-def video, so I stuck with standard definition.

It had been so long since I’d researched camcorders that I didn’t realize I would have choices other than basically a newer version of my existing mini-dv tape camera. I was excited to find that camcorders are now available with built-in hard drives to hold the video. (Sound like an old codger, don’t I? So out of touch with the newest technologies. heehee)

I decided on a Sony DCR-SR85. If you click on that link, you’ll see the suggested retail price for the camera. Believe me, I did not pay anywhere near that amount. I found the camera on sale at the Best Buy website. Bought it online, then picked it up at the store.

I love the camera so far. It’s easy to use and can hold an insane amount of video on the drive. That’s mainly the reason I decided on it. In the past, I’ve had problems videotaping stage productions because they always last well over the hour that mini-dv tapes allow. Now, with this camera, I’ll be able to tape those really long Shakespeare plays without missing a thing! ;-) Bring on the 4-hour Hamlet! I’m ready! heehee.

I also updated my video editing software. I’m now running Pinnacle Studio 12. The only thing that could make all of this better is if I had a more powerful computer to process all the video I plan to take. Well, that’s for the future.

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I walked about 40 minutes on the treadmill last night. I plan on walking at least 30 minutes a day; longer on the weekends. It’s really great to have it in the bedroom next to the TV. Makes the time go by much more quickly than staring at a wall while walking.

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The Boy will turn 20 this Friday! Wow. No longer a teenager. How did time fly this quickly? It seems like he was my little bitty baby only yesterday. I’m so proud of him. He’s such a great guy, plus he’s handsome and smart. And no… that’s not just a proud mom speaking. He really is great, handsome and smart. Love him!

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I hope all of you had a wonderful (insert holiday here), and I hope that you have an absolutely fabulous New Year! Have fun!

I'm so looking forward to this

2008-12-19T11:52:00.002-06:00

Tonight after work I am going to Sears to buy a treadmill while they're still on sale. I've been wanting one for a while. You may remember that I injured my back on a treadmill last March. It took three months to recover and the time off from exercising broke my habit of going to the gym. But always in the back of my mind I knew that I needed to get back to working out. I just couldn't seem to muster up the motivation to do it. I am now motivated again, but this time I'm leaving out the gym part of the equation and doing it at home instead.

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The Boy is home for the holidays! He has officially taken over the TV room with his new XBox 360. Good thing I can watch TV in the bedroom (while walking on the treadmill).

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Christmas will be held at our house this year. It's a rotating holiday between me, my sister, and my mom. Actually, this year was Mom's turn but with the recent flooding of her basement and the general disarray of all the stuff she had to sort through afterwards, it will be easier on all of us to have it at my house. My Guy will cook dinner and other family members will bring desserts. My input to all this is that I will be the cleaner-upper. Yucky job, but someone's got to do it!

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This may be my last post before Christmas, so here's my wish for you: I hope your holidays are everything you want them to be. Enjoy your time with family and/or the time you get to spend alone. Happy (insert holiday here) !

projects, fallen Xmas trees, and non-opening car doors. Oh my!

2008-12-15T14:33:00.001-06:00

I took a vacation day Friday so I could have a long weekend to get some work done on a variety of projects that need to be finished before the holidays.

The first thing I did on Friday was to assemble all the photographs I had taken of my latest embroidery design “Katherine”. I made a video slideshow (with subtitles) to put on my website as a tutorial for how to do a multiple position appliqué/embroidery design. Each step of the process is explained (and shown). It’s not that machine appliqué is so difficult, but if you’ve never done a multiple appliqué section design, it can get confusing unless you have a guide to get you through all the steps involved. If you’d like to see how it’s done, click here. The video is around 5 minutes long. It also includes bonus steps on how to make the embroidered design into a stylish magnet.

While I was assembling the video, I also had my embroidery machine going stitching out two new designs: Troilus and Cressida. Yeah, you can take the girl outta the theatre, but you can’t take the theatre outta the girl. (Katherine, Troilus, and Cressida are not up on the site yet, but will be later this week.)

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Saturday I worked for a while at St. Louis Shakespeare’s auditions for the upcoming production of Edward III. I’m really looking forward to seeing this one, as I’ve never read it or seen it. I believe our production will be the Midwest premiere of Shakespeare’s most recently attributed play.

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Sunday was a waste, project-wise. I attempted three separate versions of an eyeglass case and none of them were good enough to keep. Later this week I will try again and hopefully come up with something that’s workable and pretty.

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While walking around the living room late last night turning off all the Christmas lights and decorations, I accidentally knocked the Xmas tree over. Ornaments went flying everywhere, but luckily only one broke. I guess carpet is good for something after all. It was past midnight and I really was way too tired to re-decorate the tree so all the ornaments are waiting for me to get home from work today and put them in their rightful places. ;-) And I’ll have to do that as soon as I walk in the door because just a few minutes later, I’ll be hosting this month’s board meeting at my house. Hey, maybe I can get the board members to help me re-decorate the tree!

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Icy weather today in St. Louis, but that wasn’t the reason my drivers side door and lock didn’t work this morning. I’ve been having this problem on and off for a while now. I cannot unlock the drivers side with either the remote or with the key. I’ve been crawling into my car via the passenger side and really…. it’s just too ridiculous. Also, it makes me feel claustrophobic to think that I cannot get out of my car unless I climb to the passenger side. So, into the shop it goes but I couldn’t get an appointment until Thursday. So, a few more days of crawling across the center console and then hopefully, all will be well.

Catching up, kind of. No, not really

2008-12-10T16:21:00.001-06:00

So much to do, so little time

Several weeks after the end of the run of Romeo & Juliet, I still have not processed the video I shot. It’s not that I haven’t tried, it’s that my computer doesn’t seem to want to let me capture it. That’s one of the reasons I was trying to buy a new computer (you can read all about that disappointing adventure in my previous blog entry).

So, no new computer means that somehow or another I have to get my old comp to step up to the task. I defragged, I deleted old unused programs, I emptied all temp files, etc. Still, no luck with the video.

Then yesterday I decided to upgrade the video software. I figured that it might help and if it didn’t, well at least I tried. Right? I installed the new software and viola! I was able to capture an hour and a half of video! This particular production of R&J was pretty damn long, so I’ve got another 1.5 hours of video to capture this evening. Plus, I shot some extra footage from a different angle; maybe another 45 minutes or so. I’m hoping that the video is good enough to actually warrant processing it for dvd. Keep your fingers crossed for me, OK?

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In other news: I finally finished my website and it is up and running! Of course, I’ve noticed a couple little things that aren’t quite right, but they’ll be easy enough to fix when I have a few minutes. So, here it is: My World’s a Stage. It’s my online store where I sell crafty items I’ve made, where I list any items I have available on Ebay, and most of all where I hope to sell the digital embroidery files I’ve created. So, if you have an embroidery machine or know someone who does, be sure to give them the link to my site. Even if you don’t do machine embroidery, please take a look around my site and see the kind of stuff I create.

And like my blog-friend Kathy G who tries to do one new thing a day, my new thing yesterday was researching and then buying online advertising on both Google and Facebook. I never thought that would be something I would ever need or want to do, but realizing that just because I have a website doesn’t mean anyone will ever find it, I decided to spend some money to target my desired customers.

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I got my first Kevin Kline Award judging assignment! I’m not saying who, when, what, where or why because… well… just because I shouldn’t announce what I’m doing. And I won’t be writing about the show afterwards either because that would also be … well… wrong. But I’m looking forward to it!

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I attempted to put up my Christmas tree over the weekend, but found after removing it from the garage, that rodents of some type had made their home in among the branches. The tree limbs were full of what looked like plant stems and blueberries. Plus, there was plenty of poo. So, the tree and it’s box went to the curb in the dark of night. (I didn’t want anyone to drive by and think “oh! a tree! let’s take it home!”. Mom was nice enough to let me borrow one of her trees (yes, I said one of her trees. She has a collection). So, Mom’s tree is in my living room and it looks very nice.

long, lazy, unproductive weekend

2008-12-02T13:27:00.001-06:00

You’d think that with such a nice long holiday weekend spent at home, I would have accomplished a lot. Yes, you might think that, but you’d be wrong. I frittered away an entire four and a half days. Even as I was wasting my weekend, I knew that I’d hate myself for it later. And I do. Hate myself. Well, what’s done is done.

It’s not that I didn’t do anything, it’s more that I didn’t do the things that would have put me ahead of the game home-business-wise. I’m such a slacker.

What I did do:

Wednesday after leaving work early: went home and hung holiday lights in the windows at the front of the house, then took a nap. Woke up, watched tv, then went to bed again.

Thursday: Discovered that U-Verse had decided to offer free HBO for the weekend and so I felt compelled to start a True Blood ten episode marathon. Which means I got to view most of the season, but will never know how it ends. And NO, I will not add HBO to our line-up just so I can find out what happens with Bill and Sookie.

Thursday, later: Enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, red wine gravy, asparagus, and fresh crusty bread. Dessert? No, because I accidentally left it behind in the grocery cart on the parking lot of Schnucks Wednesday evening. Didn’t realize it until it was too late to go back and get it.

Thursday, even later: Continued my True Blood marathon on the bedroom TV while My-Guy watched football in the TV room downstairs, and The Boy went bowling with friends (even though he was sick).

Friday: Up bright and early to take The Boy to the Clinic at Walgreens. He has been unwell for a couple weeks now. He was diagnosed with an ear infection, so picked up script of amoxicillin and loaded up on sore throat lozenges and cold meds. He then slept the rest of the day, occasionally waking to blow his nose and cough. I watched a few more episodes of True Blood. No Black Friday shopping was attempted.

Saturday: Ran out of black ink for my printer so made a trip to Office Depot to get a replacement cartridge. While there, a certain on-sale computer caught my eye. I’ve been wanting a new computer for some time now as I’ve decided that I need/want a duo-core processor. The shiny new computer called to me. It whispered that it did indeed have the duo core processor I hungered for. It also had 6GB of RAM and a 750GB hard-drive. The computer whispered to me that I would get used to Windows Vista if I’d only give it a try. That was it. I was sold, except that the store only had a display model. I never buy display models, so I was directed to another Depot location where they had an unopened one on hand. I bought it; brought it home; had My-Guy set it up so that I could use the new computer and my old computer on the same monitor.

I sat down at the computer and was prepared to start loading my software to it, only to find that I had purchased a Vista 64 bit machine and not one single software program I own (and constantly use) would work with Vista 64. Not one program. About the only thing that I could do with the new machine was access the internet. Well, shit, I could do that on my old machine without any problems. I was so frustrated!

Saturday, later: Frustration with the new computer caused me to have to take a nap. Yes, I blame the nap on the computer. Deal with it.

Saturday, even later: My-Guy and I took The Boy to the bus station so he could start the first leg of his long journey via bus and train back to campus. Thirteen hours of travel is a hell of a long ride when you’re sick. Poor baby. (Side note: he’s still not feeling better yet.)

Sunday: Woke up early and re-packed the new computer. Took it back to the store; got my refund and then went shopping for a new Vista 32 computer. Did you know that they are very difficult to find? Almost every new Windows computer is now loaded with Vista 64. So, my hunt was unsuccessful.

Sunday, later: My-Guy suggested I go online and see if I could build a computer at the Dell site. Wow. All I can say is that Dell has fantastic customer service. They came up with several configurations (using Vista 32) that were well within my price range. I decided to sleep on it and make a decision Monday morning. (All the while I had also been working with a well-connected friend on trying to purchase a Mac instead of dealing with the Vista OS that I really didn’t want. Nothing worked out on the Mac front, though, as they are a bit out of my range, price-wise.)

Monday: Decided that even though the Dell computer would meet my needs, I plan on holding out until I can afford a Mac. That won’t be for quite a while yet, so I hope that my old XP computer will keep chugging along. There’s nothing horribly wrong with it, it’s just getting old and has decided that it doesn’t like to do some things now that it used to do easily.

Monday, later: Finally got around to working on some of the home-business tasks I should have worked on over the long weekend.

Today: I am going to catch up on all my friend’s blogs that I’ve ignored for the last week. So, I’ll see you there!

Thanksgiving traditions

2008-11-25T13:17:00.004-06:00

What are your Thanksgiving traditions? Do you gather all the family together and pig-out, then watch football, take a nap, then eat some more?

Not me.

Years ago, we gave up on the whole family Turkey Day celebration thing. Not that we aren't thankful. We are. But we prefer our Thanksgiving Day to be stress- and family-free.

My-Guy will cook something utterly delightful. Not because he has to, but because he wants to. And he will only have to cook enough to feed three. Yes, The Boy is coming home from college to spend the weekend with us. That's all the family I want and need on Thanksgiving.

So, if we don't have a large extended family to feed (or to visit), what do we do with our day? The Boy will sleep late, watch TV, maybe go to a movie, then in the late evening will visit friends. My-Guy will cook, watch football, and fall asleep on the couch. I will embroider, sew, do some more work on my unfinished website, watch TV, and probably fall asleep on the couch at some point. And of course, at some point we will eat whatever My-Guy decides to make.

It will be a marvelous day!

I hope your Thanksgiving is all that you want it to be, however you celebrate it!

theatre, sickness, and an online business

2008-11-18T13:10:00.003-06:00

St. Louis Shakespeare’s production of Romeo & Juliet is good. Really good. If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s still another four performances beginning this Thursday and running through Sunday of this weekend.

Sure, you think you know this story well. You’ve seen the movie versions. You’ve probably seen a stage production or two. Maybe you think you’ve seen it enough for a lifetime. If so, I’m asking you to reconsider because this production is well worth seeing, even if it’s your 25th time to see the play.

The actors playing Romeo and Juliet have an exciting blend of youth, beauty, energy, and sexual charisma that is palpable. Curran Bajwa and Elizabeth Birkenmeier give excellent performances as the young lovers speeding toward their doom. Great work by others in the cast, too. Mark Kelley’s Mercutio has a vibrant physical energy, a caustic wit, and an all-too-ready sword. Khnemu Menu-Ra’s Tybalt is angry, focused, and determined to avenge what he feels has been a slight against his family.

Get your tickets now!
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In other non-theatre-related news: I’ve been fighting a cold for well over a week now. I go back and forth on whether or not cold medicine helps. When I take it, I quit sneezing and blowing my nose, but I also tend to forget where I’ve put things, or not realize that I’ve repeated myself (over and over) until someone not-very-nicely points it out. If I don’t take the medicine, I think more clearly but can’t stop blowing my nose, coughing, and sneezing. I think I’d rather blow my nose a lot than have someone tell to shut up because I’m repeating myself.

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I’ve been doing a lot of work trying to get my business website redesigned and filled with content. For those of you who have been reading my blog since the beginning, you’ll remember that I used to sell my digital embroidery files online. I stopped doing that a couple years ago because I no longer had time to create new designs. Without a constant flow of new designs, business stagnates. I’m going to try it again, with a few changes. One of the changes will be that when someone purchases one of my designs, they will be able to download the file immediately. Previously, I had to wait for a payment confirmation and then email the attached files to the buyer in the evening when I got home from work. Now the whole transaction will be automatic. So, day or night, whether I’m home or on vacation, the whole thing will take care of itself.

I’ll also be adding projects and instructions to the site, and a photo gallery of things I’ve made. (I also hope to add customer project photos to the gallery in the future) I’m hoping to go live within the next 2 weeks. I’ll let you know when it actually happens.

Comedy & Tragedy

2008-11-11T13:52:00.006-06:00

AT&T’s U-Verse may be the best thing since sliced bread, as far as TV viewing goes. We had it installed last Thursday. Our install was a combination of U-Verse TV (with total-home DVR) and U-Verse high speed internet. UV isn’t cable as you may know it. Here’s how AT&T explains it:

“Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) works by plugging your high speed Internet connection into a set-top box that's connected to your television. Once the connection is made, the set-top box assembles the code from your phone line into video and audio. AT&T U-verse broadcasts in both standard definition and high definition. Each TV in the home must be hooked up to a set-top box in order to receive the signal.”

I thought I’d never be able to give up my Tivo, but I did. There’s no reason to have it any longer as the UV system comes with Total Home DVR. It can record up to four shows at once (compared to Tivo’s two) and you can watch the recorded shows from any tv in the house (can’t do that with Tivo) even if someone else is in the middle of watching the same recorded show on another tv. Awesome. (Plus, now we have Showtime which we didn’t before.)

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Last Saturday night Mom, Cec, and I went to see Mustard Seed Theatre’s production of Smoke on the Mountain, a play set at a Baptist church sing-along in 1938 with the Singing Sanders Family. Hilarious! There was an amazing amount of talent on that stage. All the actors sang and played their own instruments. Well, except for June Sanders who said (and I quote), “I don’t sing. I sign.” And does she ever, but it’s no version of American Sign Language that you will have ever encountered before. She almost steals the show, she’s so funny. They’ve added an extra weekend to the run, so if you’re up for some serious laughs, you’ve still got time to see it! Click here.

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For those of you who gravitate toward stories of tragic young love, this weekend St. Louis Shakespeare opens Romeo & Juliet, the ultimate tragic love story. Curran Bajwa plays Romeo and Elizabeth Birkenmeier is Juliet. They are joined by a stellar cast of actors, including Joshua Thomas as Friar Lawrence, Mark Kelley as Mercutio, and Khnemu Menu-Ra as Tybalt. Romeo & Juliet opens Friday, November 14 and runs two weekends. This is always a very popular production for St. Louis Shakespeare, so be sure to get your tickets soon! Click here for more information, including a cast and crew list.

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Oh, and yesterday I found out that I will be a Kevin Kline Awards judge, starting January 2009. Cool.

It's a celebration!

2008-11-05T09:53:00.002-06:00

We were ready with the chilled champagne. What an exciting Election Day outcome. Congratulations, and best of luck to you, President-Elect Obama!

Normally I don't

2008-11-04T12:34:00.003-06:00

Talk about politics. That's right, I do not normally write about politics on this blog because that's not what this blog is about. It's about family stuff, craft & sewing stuff, theatre stuff. Stuff I love! Politics is not something I love. I acknowledge its existence and I watch plenty of TV news devoted to it, but I don't feel the need to write about it.

Except today.

And only very briefly.

At 5am, I "woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head". Then drove a few blocks to my polling place to get there before they opened, hoping in that way I would avoid a line. Didn't work. ha. That's ok, though. I really didn't mind. It was a beautiful morning and a lovely temperature for this time of year. Once the doors opened at 6am, it took an hour to get through the line, vote, and walk out the door. Really not too bad, all in all. It could have been much worse, and probably would be much worse if I waited to vote after work today instead of before.

I Twittered and Facebook'd while standing outside in line. I didn't see many other Tweets or FB updates from my friends, though. Maybe they were all sleeping in.

You're not interested in who I voted for so I'm not going to bore you by telling you how much I like him, even though he wasn't my choice in the primary. (I'm a middle-aged white woman. Guess who my primary choice was.) Whoever wins this presidential election is going to have a long, hard road ahead to get us where we need to be. I wish him the best of luck, whichever man it turns out to be.

Please take time to vote today. I'm not asking you to vote for the same candidate that I did. I'm just asking you to vote. Do it. If you don't, don't bother complaining about the outcome later. :-)

Shiver me timbers!

2008-10-31T09:33:00.003-05:00

You want more photos? Well, then click on my Flickr badge in the right hand column of this blog (if you're reading this at Blogger). There you'll find more Pirate photos, plus pix of costumes past.

I did not make this one, but I could have if I would have got my butt in gear instead of lolly-gagging around until it was too late to start. It really would be pretty simple: build a frock coat, a waistcoat, and a simple pair of trousers. The "look" really comes from the accessories, so if you're thinking of making a Pirate costume of your own for next Halloween, start browsing the thrift stores for leather belts. You can easily find the pistol and sword at any costume shop, or if you want a more authentic look those things can easily be found online (but they can be pricey). Tall black leather bucket boots can be found on ebay.

I think I will actually build myself a Pirate costume to keep on hand for those days when I need a little adventure. :-)

I hope you are having a wonderful Halloween. Have fun and don't eat too much candy!

Jump start and too late to begin

2008-10-21T15:41:00.004-05:00

Well, it has turned out that ebay was just the jump-start I needed to get some more of my craft stuff moving. I sold 3 items yesterday; one will sell later today; and several other items have "watchers" so I hope that means that they will start bidding soon.

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Yes, it's too late to start working on a Halloween costume. Most of you who have been reading here for the past few years know that I usually begin building a costume in August. Somehow time got away from me this year and I didn't sew a damn thing. So, what's a girl to do when she is expected to wear a costume to the office on Halloween? She borrows one. From a professional theatrical costume warehouse. Oh yes. It's good to have connections. *grin*

So, I will be playing it simple this year. Simple, as in I won't have to sew a single costume piece or accessory unless I want to. I'm going to be a Pirate. I've got a totally cool fake leather frock coat and my choice of two fake leather waistcoats. A pirate hat to die for, I kid you not. I love this hat! I have my own pirate shirt. A friend is loaning me his eyepatch and he might even have access to a prosthetic hand hook. Awesome! I think I have a prop sword around somewhere. NO. I am not going to wear a peg leg like one friend suggested. Thinking about it now, I realize that I don't have an appropriate pair of pants yet. Hmmmm.... I'm sure I can beg a pair from my costumer friend. I'm bidding on a pair of boots on ebay. I did have a fantastic pair of boots that I wore with my Musketeer costume a couple years back, but they fell apart. Ahhh, I love Halloween. Even though I will be the only one in my office who will be dressed for the occasion.

What are you going to be for Halloween? I'd love to see pictures. I'll be posting my own pix here once it gets closer to the holiday.

another day, another dollar

2008-10-15T14:15:00.002-05:00

After disappointing sales at last month's Pirate Fest and slow sales at Etsy, I decided to try my hand at Ebay. I used to sell on Ebay many years ago, but quit when I started working full time. Anyone who sells on Ebay knows what a time hog it can be, and I could no longer spend that much time online with them when there were so many other things that I wanted / needed to do. But I think I may have found a quicker (and less expensive) way to get my stuff auction-ready.

Auctiva.

It may have been around way back when I was selling on Ebay, but I wasn't aware of it. I saw several listings recently with Auctiva templates and I thought "wouldn't it be so much easier (and less time consuming) if I could use their pre-made templates instead of creating my own?" Yes, it has been somewhat easier. I have run into a few bumps along the way, but they were problems created by me as a newbie. Now that I have my "profiles" set up and have a somewhat better understanding of the program's capabilities, any listings I create in the future should take only a fraction of the time it would normally take me to create it all through Ebay.

Today's "bumps in the road" for me happened when I needed to revise two already posted auction listings. For whatever reason, the really fun Pirate-themed template I chose for those listings disappeared once I saved the revisions. Someone from the Auctiva user community looked at my code and the template should still be there, but it's not. Maybe we'll figure it out, maybe we won't. It's ok either way. I'm not going to stress over something so negligible. If you'd like to take a look at what I have for sale on Ebay, check out my Auctiva storefront.

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Anyway, besides re-learning Ebay stuff, I've mostly been watching the new Fall TV shows. I think my favorite of the new series (so far, at least) is The Mentalist. Have you seen that one? Do you like it? I love that fact that the lead character is such a brilliant smart-ass without being an a**-hole like House is. (I still love House, tho.)

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What's up with you?

purposely misquoting Shakespeare

2008-10-08T12:51:00.002-05:00

“Vanity, thy name is Woman”. No, Shakespeare didn’t actually say that, but hey, it suits the purpose of my blog post today. (The quote from Hamlet is actually, “Frailty, thy name is Woman.” )

In the short time since She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named-In-My-Blog has appeared upon the national political stage, I have been the unfortunate recipient of stares and comments about my resemblance to her. This does NOT make me happy. In fact, it hurts me and makes me angry.

For several years now I’ve had people comment that I look like I could be Tina Fey’s older sister. I enjoyed that because I admire Ms. Fey. I know that I don’t actually look like either of these women, but the reddish hair and the glasses suggested comparisons.

What’s a girl to do when what was once a flattering comparison becomes one that makes her want to scream bloody murder and scratch out the eyes of the person who dared to say such a thing?

She gets contacts and dyes her hair.

Yep. My once auburn hair is now dark brown and my rimless glasses have been replaced by contacts. I like the new hair color, but I’m not quite ready to say that I like the new contacts. (But then, I just got the contacts yesterday so I haven’t had time to adjust to the strange feelings they create: feelings of not quite seeing things clearly; feeling that I’m “missing” something; feeling a bit off-kilter.)

In one respect, I did not give in to the urge to further alter my appearance: I could have cut my hair short and that would probably more than anything have changed my look enough to stop the comments. But I just couldn’t do it. It took me two years to get my hair this long! I did go to a stylist and have it “shaped”, though. Did I show my stylist pictures of Tina Fey or She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named-In-My-Blog and say “make sure my hair doesn’t look like either of theirs”?. No. Instead, I brought her pictures of Eve Myles and asked if she could pretty, pretty please make my hair look like that. And she did. Thank you, Katie.

For those who know me personally, I’ll still accept the Tina Fey and She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named-In-My-Blog jokes because I’ll know that it’s all said with a wink wink, nudge nudge. But those same comments from people who do not know me will not be accepted with equanimity. My response might even be rude. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Let’s hope that I no longer look like either of those women or no matter how much I may hate it, it will have to be off with the hair.

because it will be Halloween before you know it

2008-10-02T14:28:00.002-05:00

Getting into the Halloween spirit.... here's my latest creation. (BTW, I haven't made a costume for this year. Been too busy.)

Does your Mother send you care packages?

2008-10-01T13:45:00.004-05:00

I love to put together care packages for The Boy. He’s been at school for over a month now, so I figured it was time to send him something in the mail. Otherwise, his post office box sits there all lonely and empty.

Care packages never include anything he may need, like toothpaste, socks, or laundry detergent. Oh, no. Care paks only include fun stuff like candy, silly toys, dvd’s, etc. This particular pak was filled with Halloween candy. Yummy things like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, M&M’s, licorice. I also added some things that might or might not be yummy: Frankenstein’s Brains, Eyeballs, and Gummy Mummies. Also in the box were Glow Sticks, the RFT “Best of” issue, and a black t-shirt that I embroidered with a glow-in-the-dark Pirate skull and crossbones design. Yes, I know he’s in college, not grade school, but this stuff is FUN no matter what your age!

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September is over and so is my jam-packed theatre-going schedule. In my last blog entry I told you about Hair, Scorched, and Antigone. Since that post, I have seen The Rep’s Off-Ramp production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, New Jewish Theatre’s Chaim’s Love Song, and HotCity Theatre’s Killing Women.

NJT’s Chaim’s Love Song has closed. I hope you didn’t miss it. What a sweet story filled with charming characters.

There’s still time to see Killing Women, and I highly recommend it. Julie Layton stars as a mob hit-woman who has hit the proverbial glass ceiling in her murder-for-hire career. Very funny, and filled with characters who claim a unique view of what it takes to get ahead. Playing through October 4 at the brand new Kranzberg Arts Center (next to The Fabulous Fox Theatre). Info here.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore (playing at the Grandel Theatre) is a very black comedy full of blood and big laughs. If you’re a fan of off-beat, albeit dark humor, this is the play for you! Don’t worry. No real cats were harmed on-stage, but a couple furry fake one’s don’t make it through. Funny and gruesome and there’s so much slippery blood on the stage by the end that I feared the actors would break a bone or two. Playing through October 12. Info here.

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What’s next? hmmmm…. I might start a new sewing project. Or I might re-design my website. Perhaps I’ll get around to cleaning The Boy’s room, which looks like a tornado hit it. I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know when I figure it out. ;-)

I'm back!

2008-09-24T13:42:00.003-05:00

I’ve been so incredibly busy lately that I haven’t had time to write in my blog or to read anyone else’s blog. Sorry.

I don’t want to bore you with the minutia of my life, so here’s just a broad overview of what’s been keeping me busy:

Creating training documents at the office
Creating serenity from chaos at the office
Sewing/embroidering Pirate-themed merchandise to sell at Pirate Fest
Watching Doctor Who and Torchwood episodes
Seeing three plays in the last week
Helping Mom deal with the aftermath of her flooded basement
Finally filling out the paperwork to become an actual real-life business

OK, so much for the broad overview. Now, a few details:

Pirate Fest: My friend Lisa invited me to create some items to sell in her Black Cat Fashion booth at the St. Louis Pirate Festival. I made skull & crossbone embroidered drawstring pouches; embroidered (glow-in-the-dark) pirate pillows; and 3 pair of lace trimmed and embroidered gauntlets. May not sound like much, but I only had 2 evenings in which to get stuff ready. I was zooming around the studio from sewing machine to embroidery machine to ironing board, to design software. I was a whirlwind! One more weekend of Pirate Fest ahead. I hope my stuff sells.

Theatre: Three plays in one week. I don’t know how the reviewers do it! Seeing three in one week really got to me. Rushing home from work, changing clothes, grabbing something to eat, seeing the play, then getting to bed later than usual, then up early the next morning for work. I’m getting old, I guess, because this just wasn’t as easy as it used to be. And I’ve got 3 more plays on my schedule within the next week. No, I’m not really complaining. I’m grateful to get to see so much theatre!

Hair: This was my first time to see the play Hair. Great set. Fun costumes. Wonderful singers. Presented by NewLine Theatre and playing through October 18. Info here.

Scorched: This is one of those plays that is, in my opinion, what theatre is all about. Amazing story, amazing acting. I don’t want to tell you the story because if I start writing about it, I might just go on and on and on. You must see this play. Heart-wrenching and shocking, yet filled with hope. Presented by The Orange Girls and playing through September 28. Info here.

Antigone: Another entry in the St. Louis Political Theatre Festival, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone is a modernized version of the Greek play by Sophocles. Great cast and interesting story. This production is set in the 1940’s with drop-dead gorgeous costumes by Teresa Doggett. Presented by St. Louis Actors Studio and playing through October 5. Info here.

Before the end of this month, I will also be seeing The Rep’s Off-Ramp production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, New Jewish Theatre’s Chaim’s Love Song, and HotCity Theatre’s Killing Women. Ahhhh, September is such a great month for theatre in St. Louis!

I have no idea how to title this entry

2008-09-15T12:27:00.001-05:00

Weekends Equal Relaxation

Friday night was spent finishing up a few odds & ends to be ready for Saturday night’s Trivia Night and Silent Auction for St. Louis Shakespeare. Saturday entailed more Trivia Night errands, then the actual Trivia event Saturday night. Sunday included a three hour Board Meeting where we discussed Trivia Night among other things. Sunday night was spent helping my Mom because her basement flooded after the storm.

So, you can see that I had a very relaxing weekend. NOT.

Trivia Night is a really fun event, but one that takes a tremendous amount of planning beforehand and a lot of people to be on hand for the actual occasion. We wouldn’t be able to do it without the help of a large cadre of volunteers. People who give freely of their time, effort, money, and good will are the backbone of non-profit organizations. For any of you out there who volunteer, may you always be blessed with good luck and fortune! I am also a volunteer -- I get paid nothing for all that I do for the theatre, but I do it anyway and I do it happily (ok, I grumble every once in a while, but…). Volunteers ROCK!

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Floods of Memories

I slept through the rain storm that saturated the St. Louis area Saturday night. I never even knew that it happened until I read about it in the news. We got a small trickle of water in our basement, but nothing to be overly concerned with. So, when I got a call from my Mom Sunday evening, I had no idea what havoc the storm had caused for her. She had been away from home during the storm and returned to find three feet of storm water in her basement. It receded enough throughout the afternoon that she could begin to determine the damage. The damage was total. Nothing escaped the water. Not even the items she had stored in large plastic totes with lids. The water had come in so high that all the tubs floated, bobbed in the water, turned over and filled with storm sewage.

My mom is a bit of a pack-rat, so she had a huge amount of storage tubs filled with years and years worth of fabric, clothes, shoes, etc. All ruined. Some of it might be worth taking to the laundry-mat, but a lot of it is just not worth the time and trouble to clean it. My sister and her family, plus me and My-Guy, and several of Mom’s friends were there to haul everything out to her backyard where she can determine what she will try to salvage and what needs to be taken away.

This is not the first time that her basement has flooded. During the years she has lived at this house, the basement has flooded several times. Usually under a foot of water, sometimes much less. I think this is the third major flood (anything above one foot is major.) All of this flooding is caused by a nearby storm sewer that doesn’t seem to be able to handle the flow of a major storm.

Unfortunately, not only has the storm damaged her property, it has also brought back dark memories for her that are associated with a previous basement flood: In early June 1995, one of the worst basement floods she ever had resulted in (in her opinion) the death of her husband (my father). After several days of removing flood-damaged items from the basement, tearing down walls, bleaching floors, moving furniture, etc, my Dad died of a heart attack at home before the ambulance could arrive. So, as you can see, this flood not only damaged everything in her basement, it has brought back all the heartache of memories. Memories of the man she had been married to for 36 years at the time of his death. A man she loved with all her heart. So please, if you would, keep my Mom in your thoughts at this time. This particular flood has been physically and emotionally difficult for her.

all the news thats fit to print

2008-09-08T11:17:00.003-05:00

Classes resume at Tulane today after more than a week of mandatory evacuation for all the students. The Boy arrived back in New Orleans yesterday after having spent time in both Lafayette, Louisiana and Tampa, Florida. A mini-vacation of sorts.

Let’s hope that Hurricane Ike doesn’t decide to head for New Orleans. If it does, we’ll have The Boy come home to St. Louis this time.

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I spent several hours on Saturday re-building the St. Louis Shakespeare website which had been hit by a cross-scripting hack. It destroyed many pages of the site and wreaked havoc on the navigation links. Since some of the needed pages and information were destroyed during the attack, My-Guy suggested that I use “The Wayback Machine” to recover some of the missing info. What a time-saver! I had not been aware of this site before he told me about it. Fantastic. If you are ever in the situation where you need to recover lost data from your site, I highly suggest this site! Anyway, the site is now fully functional again and updated with information about our upcoming events. (Including Trivia Night which happens this Saturday. There’s still time to reserve a table!)

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Sunday was spent making gift items for the Silent Auction at Trivia Night this coming Saturday. I made two sets of masks/trick-or-treat bags. One set is pirate themed and the other is an embroidered glow in the dark bag and a really cute cat half-mask. Oh, and I also decorated an apron with a retro-kitchen photo printed on fabric.

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I’m on a “new” Doctor Who roll! This weekend I watched a few episodes from the second season. I’ve got all the Doctor Who dvd’s on my Netflix list and am looking forward to seeing them all, plus the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood (also in my queue). It’s tough to find time to watch the episodes, though, because I’m so busy with on-going projects. It may take a while to actually get through the second season.

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So, that’s what’s up with me these days. I’m off to catch up on your blogs because I’ve been remiss in my reading/commenting. See you there!

King Lear pre-show discussion

2008-09-04T23:31:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone, I posted an episode to my podcast, St. Louis Shakespeare's Podcast.

Click this link to check it out:
Pre-Show discussion of King Lear
(a video podcast)

- St. Louis Shakespeare

The long road home

2008-09-03T15:24:00.002-05:00

The Boy called yesterday to let us know that he's still in Lafayette but is staying in a different house. One that has power. He and his friends plan on leaving for New Orleans tomorrow and sleeping over at a friends house until they are allowed back on Tulane's campus this Sunday.

He said he'll be very happy to get back home. Meaning New Orleans; not St. Louis.

We're happy and thankful that the situation wasn't worse than it was.

Yes. Very happy.

Eye of the hurricane

2008-09-01T18:34:00.002-05:00

The eye of the hurricane passed over Lafayette where The Boy is staying. He called a few minutes ago. He said there were high winds and a lot of rain, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

They are without power and passing the time playing Risk. Seems appropriate.