Tag Archives: Story Time

Adulting, Log

Friendly Reminder

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For those of us who haven’t driven their car in months….I hope everyone has been remembering to at least drive a short distance to make sure your car stays well…

Cuz I didn’t…and now my car battery (which is less than a year old btw) is dead.

It’s my own fault. But it’s reminded me how long this has been going on. The theater I work for has been closed since March…and will be closed until next year.

Anybut, called AAA and got the battery jumped. The dude told me to drive it around for 30-60 minutes. I drove for about 30 minutes and then made the STUPID decision to go through a drive-thru.

I was thirsty, there was one car in line, so I didn’t think it would be a problem.

It was a problem.

Ordered the drink, had to wait five seconds for the car in front of me to pay and move on…it was 5 seconds too long.

The battery died. A truck pulled up behind me. A very nice gentleman helped push my car through the line to a parking spot. I yelled at the confused worker in the window that my battery was dead and I’d be back to pay.

After my car was “parked” I went in and paid for my drink then called for help. I sat in my car drinking my cursed soda while I waited for a tow truck to come and take my car to the same place I bought my battery.

Luckily, the battery was still under warranty so all I had to pay for was labor.

And that’s the story……oh and they had Ghostbusters 2 on the TV…followed by Goonies.

Yeah. Please don’t be a moron like me and be sure to drive your car at least twice a week.

Log, Story Time

I Went on a Cruise!!

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The week of February 2nd through February 9th I went on a cruise.

It wasn’t for vacation, though I did get some time to relax and avoid human contact while I sat by a pool……….but it MOSTLY wasn’t for vacation.

I went to a writer’s conference on a cruise ship.

Was the timing ideal? No, but we booked the tickets long before the first cruise ship got quarantined because of the COVID-19 (or the Coronavirus).

AND we lucked out and nobody on the cruise ship got sick…..though we did have a medical emergency on board…but it wasn’t an illness.

ANYBUT!!

The Writer’s Cruise Conference was put together by author William Bernhardt, who’s become a sort of family friend to my dad.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I write stories? If I haven’t….here I am telling you about it.

My dad basically bought me a ticket saying I didn’t have much choice against going……even though attending the conference meant I would be missing the second week of rehearsals for Kinky Boots….and make it back literally the day before tech week…………..which would have made it extremely awkward if we had gotten quarantined…………………………..but we didn’t.

The conference was helpful. It was informative. I met other aspiring authors and some already published authors.

Overall, the cruise conference was a success and I know William Bernhardt is planning to do it again next year. Soooooooooo, if any of you are aspiring authors and want to go on a cruise and write, this is for you!

(MAJOR NOTE: I AM NOT BEING PAID OR SPONSORED TO PROMOTE THIS. I REALLY HAD A GOOD TIME AND A LOT OF EXTREMELY USEFUL INFORMATION WAS SHARED. SINCE THERE WERE ALREADY PUBLISHED AUTHORS ON THE CRUISE, YOU REALLY GET AN ACTUAL INSIDE LOOK AT ALL OPTIONS OF PUBLISHING; TRADITIONAL, INDEPENDENT, OR HYBRID PUBLISHING.)

If you don’t want to do a cruise, there’s also the WriterCon in Oklahoma. Here’s a link for more information.

I can’t speak for how well this conference is as I have not personally gone….though I am planning on attending this year. But again, not sponsored to promote ANY of this.

Fun things that happened during the cruise (not related to the conference):

  • We couldn’t dock at our second port due to rough seas. That was the only port I actually scheduled an on shore adventure thingy, but we skipped it. This was also when the captain informed us that there was a medical emergency so we booked it to our final port, Cozumel. I did get off the ship when we docked to do some shopping for gifts for those who were covering me in rehearsal while I was gone.
  • One of the shows on the boat (a musical staging of Saturday Night Fever) had to stop about a third of the way through due to “technical difficulties”. They canceled the show and moved it to our last day at sea. We went to see it then…..it was….meh.
  • The median age of those on our boat (not including the crew or entertainment) was 65+……….and over half were Kansas City Chiefs fans. Did I mention we were on the ship during Super Bowl? There were a couple San Francisco 49ers fans….but not many. Also I was one of….4? Yeah, 4 people (including one teenager) who had unnaturally colored hair. There was green, orange, purple (me), and blue……that doesn’t include the senior citizens who think their hair color is passing for natural…..
  • Since I didn’t go off boat for the 2 ports we did manage to stop at, I got a lot of free time to sit wherever I wanted by the pool (which is difficult on days at sea).
Log, Story Time

Story Time: Paris Edition

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Don’t get too excited…

I was very lucky. When I was in middle school I had the opportunity to travel to Europe. We went to England, Spain, and France.

But the focus of this story time is one night in Paris, France.

My french teacher thought it would be a good (and informative) idea to take a group of MIDDLE SCHOOLERS to see a musical in french.

What musical?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Now, the Disney Hunchback had already come out and we, the naive students we were, thought we were seeing a stage production of the Disney movie.

OH HO HO! Definitely NOT!

We were seeing a musical that didn’t resemble the colorful Disney film in the slightest.

It was Notre Dame de Paris…starring Garou and Bruno Pelletier.

Now for those of you who don’t understand why I put that pause there…well, it was kind of a big deal in France. It almost single-handedly revived musical theater in France (ok, confession, I looked this up and this is what Wikipedia says so…take that as you will).

Also, if you’ve ever heard of Il Divo, they sang the opening song from this musical…a lot.

The song is Le Temps des Cathédrales. Look it up and you’ll most likely say, “I’ve heard this song before…how is that possible?”

Well, a lot of classically trained singers >cough< Josh Groban >cough< love to sing this song.

It’s a gorgeous song, don’t get me wrong, but this isn’t exactly the point of this story.

Anybut, Bruno Pelletier was the one who sang this song and he became very famous for it. And Garou went on to become a very popular singer in France, too.

The point I’m trying to make…I was too young to really give a crap about who was in the cast.

And, spoilers, I fell asleep about halfway through Act I. I was barely a tween.

All I truly remembered about this show was that opening song (even as a kid I knew that was a killer song), Quasimodo having a very gravely voice, and actors climbing up and down a wall. That’s it.

Have I looked up the musical online and watched the whole thing? Yes. Did I do it mostly because I wanted to make sure I didn’t make up the entire thing? Also yes.

Whew…this was a longer post.

I guess the main point I think I was going to make was the fact there are things that happen in your life that seem like a small blip in your life. And then when you get older you realize that tiny blip was a larger blip for…well in this case an entire country…sort of? I don’t know. It’s 4 in the morning and I need to sleep.

Goodnight.

Log, Story Time

I Feel Attacked

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I just wanted lunch…

I went to ask my dad what he wanted for lunch. He was watching Thor: The Dark World. It was the funeral scene. After Frigga’s death. Here is the transcript:

Me: Thor?

Dad: Mm Hm. It’s Frigga’s funeral.

>a pause<

Dad: It’s Friggin’ sad.

Me: …

Dad: …

Me: No.

Dad: It’s even sadder because it’s Thorsday.

Me: Stop.

Dad: Good thing it’s not tomorrow.

Me: …

Dad: Frigday.

Me: I hate you.

Three puns within a minute…My dad has killed me.

 

Log, Story Time

Child Magnet

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Children are drawn to me…

I don’t know why…it may have to do with the fact I have purple hair….that’s probably the exact reason.

Anyways, I can’t remember if I’ve ever mentioned this but I don’t like children…okay, I don’t dislike children, I just…am not 100% comfortable with them. I can communicate with them for short periods of time. I can keep them entertained (if it doesn’t require chasing them around a room…I’m not a runner) and I know enough references on recent children shows to keep up when they talk about them. But I sort of short circuit a little bit when left in a room alone with children. I think it’s because they just understand things in such a different way than adults and sometimes they say things so profound yet they don’t understand that what they said was profound. They’re just so innocent…and I don’t want to ruin that innocence. I remember those adults in my life who ruined it for me.

ANYBUT, I wanted to add this to my rehearsal posts but I didn’t know how to fit them in.

But there are children in our show and they’re very nice, professional, and well-behaved children. BUT boy howdy they ask me questions more than they ask the Stage Manager….who actually has the answers.

There’s also a husband and wife in the show who’s son is in the show and their other son visits rehearsals at times.

Today was one of those times. During my dinner break I was eating alone in the rehearsal hall (sorry, actors, y’all are too loud during dinner) and he was in the room, too. There’s a green drum set in the show and he fell in love with it. It started conversations. And I mean I couldn’t just ignore him.

That’s rude.

So I answered his questions and he began to follow me around as I finished setting up for the Designer Run Through.

I never told him to leave me alone, but I did find little creative ways to keep his hands away from the props or set pieces (such as: the rats need to sleep before the show, the tower isn’t ready for people to stand on it yet…okay not that creative, but it worked, and so on).

Now I do need to mention, I’ve known this particular child for almost 5 years. And by know, I mean seen around the company. He’d always been very quiet. The only words I ever heard him say was “Hi” and “Bye-Bye”. THAT WAS IT!!

Now I was having full conversations about a dragon with him. Times sure change.

I lost track of what I really wanted this post to be about…but yeah. Kids always find a way to cling to me on shows and in life. My friends have always found it funny. They say it’s ironic since I’m the one in our friend group least likely to have children.

I could do without the irony, thanks.

Log, Story Time

Map, Map, Map it Out!

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I love maps…

All kinds of maps. I love road maps, world maps, those maps with all the lines geologists use…or some kind of scientist I can’t remember…point is: I LOVE MAPS!!

And some of my all time favorites are maps from books or video games. I mean it’s amazing to me how detailed they are.

And I can only imagine as a child having my mind blown after reading the Hobbit for the first time and moving on to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and seeing the map you memorized for Bilbo’s adventure just expand into this monstrous thing!

…Okay, maybe that was a little too on point or too specific, but I also happen to have the map Bilbo had on my wall sooooooo, sorry not sorry.

Anybut, if I can get a copy of a map I get it. My dream one day is to have a room (maybe even my office or writing room) with maps from all of my favorite series on the walls including real life maps.

I’m a bit of a nerd…but I LOVE MAPS!!!

Log, Story Time

WORST NIGHT EVER UPDATE!!!

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This is an update on the previous post…

The spider is still MIA. I haven’t seen it in over 15 hours…but I know it’s still there!

It’s waiting for me to drop my guard and then it’s going to try again.

Anybut, next post won’t be about the awful spider hiding in my room…I hope.

Log, Story Time

WORST NIGHT EVER!!

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This may be a bit of an overreaction….

Last night (and by last night I mean like two hours ago), I was doing my usual insomniac act. I was watching stupid videos on YouTube. I had one earphone in and the other sitting on my chest (cause I was lying in bed).

A black blur ran across the keyboard of my computer….straight at me.

I shoved my computer off me, the earphone ripping from my ear, and leaped, I mean LEAPED, out of my bed. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight and there…it…was.

A spider.

A spider the size of a dime (which for a spider is pretty big), was scrambling over my covers, running from the light. I chased that little punk to the floor, grabbed a shoe and swung….

But I missed.

And it disappeared under my bed.

………..I haven’t gone to bed. I’ve been awake all night.

Where were my cats? One was downstairs eating food. The other was in the hallway watching her owner run around the room with her phone in front of her.

I MEAN SHE JUST SAT THERE!!! YOU’RE A KITTEN!! KILL THE SPIDER!!!

Instead, she grabbed her bird toy and started rolling around on the floor…..my hero.

Anybut, I still don’t know where that spider is….and I had to fight not to burn the house to the ground…or at least my bed.

Log, Story Time

Armadillo Cake

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I was in a play in high school…

My senior year of high school I was cast in our school’s production (Thespian Society production to be clear) of Steel Magnolias. I was cast as Ouiser Boudreaux. If you’re only familiar with the movie, or even if you are not, that was the character played by Shirley MacLaine. She was the kind of stubborn, angry one. Of course there’s more to her character than that, but for a public high school production in Indiana that is the best description I ever got.

Anybut, the point is! In the script is a scene mentioning a strange cake. A red-velvet armadillo cake….as in, when you cut into the cake…it looks blood red inside.

Now as a mature high school student, I made the best decision ever. For my senior graduation party (which I shared with another girl because there was no way enough people would show up to one thrown just for me, but that’s a story for another day), I decided to have an armadillo cake. The other girl who I shared the party with was in on it. She played Annelle in the play with me.

Did we get a lot of confused stares? Absolutely.

Did we care? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

It was funny. We were proud of it. And it was amazing.

And do I have a picture of it? OF COURSE!! But not cut into, but trust me….it was blood red inside.

armadillo cake

 

Do  I also have pictures of me as Ousier Boudreaux? Yes, but you’ll have to wait for a future post for those. 😉

 

 

It Just Got Personal, Log, Story Time

I See You

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Story Time:

BEFORE Harry Potter and the magical wizarding world of the J. K. Rowling books, I can say with complete seriousness….

I used to believe the people in pictures could see/hear me. I still kind of (on a far smaller scale) believe this even now at 30 years old.

When I was a kid and into my teenage years, I never really had posters on my bedroom walls. There was one N*SYNC poster that I eventually did put up, but I made sure they weren’t staring at my bed. Otherwise I could never fall asleep. But I refused to put any other pictures up.

Okay, I lied. I did have other posters and pictures on my bedroom walls, BUT they were of animals…specificaly dragons….and Wyland paintings (you know, the ones with the whales) and I didn’t mind if they could hear me or see me.

ANNNNND I did have a painting by my grandmother…but that I hung in the closet. I had a weird closet that had room for a desk, but the ceiling was slanted…kind of like the little girl’s room from that Nicolas Cage Wicker Man movie….for the five of you who know what I’m talking about, high five!

I also believed the people in paintings moved when no one was looking at them. I believed that more than toys moving when no one was looking…sorry Toy Story.

So if you ever meet me and we’re in a room with pictures of people…I’ll probably act a little weird…because I don’t want the people in the pictures to tell other pictures what a weirdo I am.