Travel panic

Why is it the night before you’re about to go away somewhere, you realize all the things you have NOT done that you really really feel that you should do…and all of these things seem to have a higher precendence in your brain than doing simple things such as sleep or relax?

It’s Valentine’s day, and for the first time in our entire relationship I have the evening off. To match the astounding surprise of this, my office was quiet as it was a managers meeting day. This means that I was able to clear a few things off my desk, deal with others as they showed up and still find a recipe for fondue for us for dinner this evening.

On my way home, I nabbed the goodies I needed and got to break in my brand new canvas bag at the same time. The Bald One stopped on the way home for sterno since he neglected to get it at work and buy two things I thought we had at home (vinegar and horseradish - who knew we were out? Not me…I don’t use either much). The beef required marinating, so he munched some chips and I finished prepping the dessert half of our meal. Over a leisurely, enjoyable pot of boiling oil we talked like normal human beings. Then we indulged in chocolate fantasies with the perfect size for two people - a pint of strawberries and a mini-cup of pineapple.

Dishes are still in process, as our dishwasher reached capacity before we finished cleaning up. This allowed us to sit and watch Prison Break and digest our delicious dinner. Now we’ve finished that, the dishwasher is done and the clothes are (mostly) packed. But now I’m realizing that the cat litter hasn’t been done. The dishwasher needs to be emptied and filled. We haven’t gotten the key over to our cat sitter yet. My car hasn’t been dropped off for maintenance at the dealer. And worse yet, our iPods aren’t full.

Time never seems enough the night before you fly away.

 

Place your bets!

The question is….where is my luggage!

Today was my first day on tour for the season and I was flying out to Kansas City through Chicago O’Hare. The first hour I was in O’Hare, I had three different gates for my flight. At the second one, I got to enjoy my lunch. At the third I finished my book, a magazine and three out of four catalogs. The third was where I found out we were delayed, then canceled. This resulted in a stop in rescheduling while calling to get rescheduled that night. My reschedule put me in four hours after initially planned, changing airlines and going from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1. Once arriving at my new gate, I was told I could try to get on the flight that was leaving right now and get in only an hour and a half later than initially planned.

The downside is that my luggage didn’t keep up with me. I didn’t think it would, but I hoped I’d get it tonight. No such luck. My luggage contains the usual items: clothes, toiletries, workout clothes for the fitness center. It also contains a few extras since we’ll be driving back - a few more books (three to be exact), my knitting loop project, the inch thick file of data to be entered and (drumroll please) my leather coat to protect me from the balmy weather we’re supposed to have here

I was originally transfered to a flight that leaves Chicago tomorrow at 9:45am. Here’s hoping that when we finish the show tomorrow morning, I come back to the hotel to clean clothes.

 

Stolen scarves and other things

Yesterday as I hit the stores on my one errand of the day, I wrapped a stolen scarf around my neck. The shopping was a success and the scarf was wonderful for burrowing my chilled fingers. The scarf is from a stop in Meridian, Mississippi a few years back, and not really stolen…but that’s how I think of it.

Friday unofficially started what I think of as my touring season. Really the company has me benchmark all of November and December, but we rarely hit the road before the turkey has been served and usually finish up before the yule log burns. Monday I’ll have my brush-up rehearsal before the husband and wife team hit the road for shows near where I’ll be meeting them on December 2nd. Every year we travel to new locations and I get a warm fuzzy feeling in my soul as we hit these little pockets of Americana.

 

Spala ‘07… or, where I’ve been.

This past weekend I had my sort of annual run away with the gals weekend. It was fabulous, as it should be. We laughed, we ate, we drank and had a wonderful time just being together. Full breakdown follows.

 

drive-by Atlanta-ing

Good decisions all around.

Today, we were supposed to crash in Atlanta. To have some fun first, we went to the World of Coca-Cola - where DzB acted like a kid, which made it fun. And I got to have some Ginger Beer, which tasted yummy. When we went to check in, that’s when we discovered we really didn’t know what day it was. More importantly, DzB didn’t quite know when he finalized the arangements. Our reservation was for tomorrow night. To make matters more entertaining, the hotel was under renovation - so there really wasn’t any space left. After about a half-hour of conversation and excellent help from Shanika at the Hampton Inn in North Druid Hills, we found a place to lay our heads for the night an hour north. We lucked out, because there also had better food options nearby.

But, I discovered that Commerce, GA really took it’s name to heart. I’ve never seen such a collection of outlet stores. There are three different collections of them within walking distance of the hotel. It’s such a big deal that there are people in the hotel who have been here for DAYS shopping. Insane.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Stuart, VA. Should be fun. Hiking at the Blue Ridge Parkway during the day, show at night, and then sleeping in a cabin. I might get some reading and cards done, what do you think?

 

Holiday insanity (or why you can never go home again)

Today I got my weekly email from Continental telling me of the wicked cool deals they have for weekend getaways. A girl likes to dream…but what caught my eye wasn’t the really low fares for a last minute getaway, but the special they have for their “Bill Me Later” program. Six Months no interest? Just pay it off? No credit requirement? Sign me up! It’s about time for me to seriously look at that whole holiday travel thing anyway. Especially since there’s two of us traveling.

Saturday would be my 6 week mark, which is when I usually try to order plane tickets. The date has snuck up on me, as I am completely oblivious to the fact that it’s late fall, November, or a time of year where I should have my windows closed or consider wearing a jacket. It’s been unseasonably warm, and due to juggling one show followed almost immediately by another, I’ve sorta lost track of time. Plus, the big countdown in my head right now is to Thanksgiving where many things are likely to happen. So why would I remember that there’s another holiday after that?

What’s really set me off though is the fact that I wanted to wake up on the 25th in Cleveland, with snow on the ground, a fire in the fire place, and a relaxing family dinner. Maybe even a movie afterwards - which seems to be the new family trend. What’s going to happen is that D & I will get up around 6:30am or so, shower, drive to the airport & check in, sit around for 90 minutes before taking a 90 minute flight to Cleveland. Once there, we’ll have presents to wrap only to immediately unwrap them once the kids arrive. If the kids are even coming over around then…they might be spending the day with her mom or be in Texas with her dad. I don’t know.

I wanted the feeling of being twelve or so again. The twenty-fourth was a big deal in my mom’s family. We’d get slightly dressed up and go to my grandfather’s apartment for a laid-back dinner. There would be ham, kielbasa, potatos, bread (including the funky chive that Aunt E always brings and I forget I dislike until I bite into it) and veggies of some sort. There would be a dessert later - either fruit, or pie, or Gramps would make pudding - including butterscotch for Mom & I. That would wind away around 9/10pm and we’d go home. My family would kinda doze in front of the television watching some holiday special or sit in the living room with the tree as our only light and just talk or play board games. Around 11pm we’d get ready and go to Midnight Mass, which I still love despite not believing the faith. There’s an feeling in the air with the choir singing the hymns and Handel’s Messiah that you can’t quite find elsewhere. The families all there quietly listening as the full pastoral staff celebrates mass together and the organ fills the building with sound. And as the chimes sound midnight, you can almost feel the change in the air.

After mass, it was off to bed. My brother was always the first one up on Christmas morning when we were younger. He’d sit in the hall outside Mom & Dad’s room waiting for them to stir because we were not allowed downstairs until they woke up - even for a glass of water. He’d usually wake me up after an hour or so and talk at me while I’d read whatever book I was in the middle of at that time. Eventually, our parents would wake up and we’d scramble to look like we’d been still asleep or just recently woken up. I don’t think we ever fooled them. We’d go down stairs together and always the first thing was the tree. Dad would put some water on for tea and eventually we’d start drinking it while opening presents. It was a slow process because we’d take turns. Or at least try to. And there was always stuff to open and fun to find. The best presents were always the thing you hadn’t expected. I still have the unicorn carousel music box on my dresser that Dad found one year for me.

After the tree came the stockings & breakfast. The stockings were usually chocolate, batteries for presents as needed, gum, and something small and fun - like giftcard for a free movie or a small toy. The chocolate was always Malley’s. Breakfast was usually a quiet affair over arguing over the newspaper and reading whatever manuals came with our new toys or electronics. Then it was off to quickly shower and dress followed by last minute running around the house cleaning up the wrapping paper, presenting the gifts nicely in their unwrapped state and making dinner. Dad would go off to pick up the grandparents and be back an hour later dusting off snow. We’d sit down in the dining room with the linens all perfect and the china & silver out to a dinner of roast beef with three different types of potatos (baked for most, sweet for mom & I, and mashed for gramps) with rolls (for WB) and asparagus (for Mom & Dad) or green beans (for us kids). There’d be talk over the table and teasing Gramps because everything would get stopped at him. Afterwards, we’d break out the board games or pinochle and play at the cleared table before dessert.

After dessert, Dad & Mom would take the grandparents home leaving Mike & I to clean up the dishes - usually at this point meaning empty the dishwasher and refill it to run again. Then we’d entertain ourselves with playing with our new toys before crashing out.

It was just a full little package of memories, that I don’t think I can replace now. My brother and I have both grown up and left the nest, so there’s no waking up Christmas morning at M&D’s house anymore. I still could, if I could fly in early enough…but Mike only lives across town. No reason for him to spend the night. And even the routine seems..different, now that we’re adults. It probably doesn’t help that my parents are living in a completely different house than the one I grew up in. And the holidays are really crazy flying so close to them. I know that “christmas will be whenever you get here” but it’s still a lot of quick-running. Last year I was on a 6am flight that had me at their house some time around 8:30. I got home, showered, coffee’d & ate, wrapped presents and was done just as the kids showed up to do the present exchange. And it went fast, because they had already done their personal gift exchange. Not to mention all the outside things. It’s just not the same. Which I guess means I’m growing up.

 

exhaustion a’la Wilmington

For some reason, my costume designer from my recently finished show has not returned my calls. While I don’t want to feel like I’m stalking her, she might not get a chance to return the costumes I have herself at this rate - because I want them out of my apartment. Gah. But…since we didn’t tak my car this weekend, I rdidn’t really have to worry about it. Instead, I got to pack light and ride in the Jeep.

*insert wave here*

I learned that apparently Jeep driving is a cult. People stare at you. Other people (in Wranglers - they don’t cross-breed) have their own little wave from the steering wheel. There is a reason to love four wheel drive in low gears. And braids are a neccessity when you’re traveling.

See, every great once in a while, you feel the serious need to get the heck out of town. For me, that showed up around Thursday. This past weekend was scheduled to be out of town, but then it was thought that it wouldn’t work. And then, everyone else needed to get the heck out of town as well - so we were back on by the end of the day Thursday. It. Was. On.

But first, there was the drama. Which involved a shut-door in-my-office conversation. Followed by an email or three. Followed by another shut-door conversation. THen everything was kinda alright. Sorta. Well, maybe. At least we’ll tolerate each other? I’ll take that.

We had a plan. D got to work early in hopes he’d get out early. No dice, since the idiot GM hired a friend and that friend abuses his priveledges by not doing his work because he won’t get fired. Either the GM or the friend needs a bitch slap, and I don’t know which one deserves it more. D doesn’t get to abode until after Spam is already on his way for gas and to meet us here. So we’re a little behind, but not horribly. It’s just we didn’t get to do a possibly added last second run-around thing that was sprung into the Plan last-minute. We all lived.

The drive was great. for the first half hour or so. Until the temperature dropped. And the spectacular light show became a light rainstorm became hail. That meant pulling off on the side of the road with J & J putting the top on in the rain while D and I try to help from the inside because we can’t really get out to help. But the top is up, everyon is soaked and we’re off again with a quick stop for food. After greetings and hello-puppy!s are done, we slowly start to wind down before crashing.

Saturday was the day of not making decisions. We’re actually up,dressed, braided and ready to go while it’s still morning, which I found impressive. So we traverse to downtown to spend much time in a little bookshop before wandering to the place where we had intended on spending a lot of time - Twice Baked (paint your own pottery). The boys were welcome to play, but J & I had plans. Until they didn’t have the sushi platter but they did have expensive plates. We went off in search of lunch to debate and allow the guys to think on whether or not they wanted to play with us. Lunch eventually landed us at the fabulous little sushi shop we were told of by the lady at Twice Baked. Very good. The boys decide (with some coaxing) to play with us and we alter our decision on what we’re going to paint. Much time passes over chit-chat and painting and we eventually turn in a mug with a skull on it, Oberon’s goblet, a bowl of fire and water and my girly side came out again with an inspirational quote. If the glazing and firing does what we think, we’ll all be happy. J & I are plotting our next trip - for sushi platter goodness.

We ended the day with ice cream and pouting, sunset and gentle reminders about time before a ongoing I’ll-wear-whatever discussion before dinner. Dinner was good, but … eh. The cornbread rocked. So did my martini. Before long we were back home, chitchatting a bit, and when I realized I was falling asleep on the floor, everyone had already started heading for bed.

Today was just long…and I could have done it a lot shorter and been happy. A traditional phone call home in interupted fashion with a dog walk and leaf-peeping throughout, an excellent breakfast and everyone ready to go. Or not. But going. in swimsuits? maybe. Yes. Okay. Then we were off to play in the Jeep-sand fun. And a wonderful walk on the beach full of romantic sappy stuff - the future, the now, seashells. Once back, I read and D watched the surf until we all were realizing we wanted food and civilization. Another martini later and we’re all over fed and happy to be going back to the house to change and pack. Then we were back on the cold road home…full of quiet and people who probably had spent too much time together for one weekend.

But I’m home, and laundry is mostly started (the whites are done!). The cats are fed again and chillin’ around the house. It’s quiet, which is great after so much good loud music. The books are balanced and I’m not freaked out about money. And I think this all means it’s time for bed.

 

I was kidnapped

not really, but I might as well been at times.

I needed to get out of town. JJ needed to get the heck out of town. She had connections that gets her a ride in a jeep to the beach. We supplied the crash space and native-ish guide. WE determined through a flurry of emails that we could go between me getting out of work on Friday and be there with her Saturday until 1ish.

That was, until she found out that the director for my current show wasn’t going to make the meeting either. With a few well left messages, I had called everyone that would be coming to the meeting and asked if they’d like the day off in exchange for moving the meeting to Sunday at 12Noon. Then, JJ made me turn off my phone and hand it to her until 10a Saturday. The reason being that we were going to go out that night, and I could have gotten messages back but I wouldb’t be able to do anything about them until morning. And these are theater people, we don’t do mornings.

Saturday morning, because I’m good, I got it early. I had several messages - one of which was from myself - all saying that it would be just fine. All had been heard from except the set designer, who I was most concerned about. I called him, he loved the idea of us having a day off - so there we went. I suddenly had a full day to tool around Wilmington with friends. We had one errand to run, and then we were off to showing JJ and Vlad the coolness that is the Cotton Exchange. I love that place…but they still keep really early hours - like closing at 5:30p on Saturdays. But…we had a really good time. We introduced JJ & Vlad to the joy that is T.S. Brown. This is a fabulous little jewelry store. JJ and I found these earrings that should have been mixed together in the first place. One set says “dream” and the other was “believe” we now have one of each. She found a fabulous dragon charm and I fell in love with a starfish. That thing that kept us in there for a huge amount of time however were rings. Purr. Pretty sparkly things

We watched the sunset over the USS North Carolina. It was fabulous. I had to break scary-sad news to JJ, which she didn’t handle well to say it mildly. But we don’t know anything yet…so we’re preparing for the likely worse, but we don’t know when or how so far. But…we did have a good time in the end.

Including drinking a large ass bottle of wine, causing us to stay another night. We got in with just enough time to get my meeting followed by rehearsal

I need kidnapping more often. But not to come back to this mess.

 

Well, the hard part’s over

Or something like that. I survived. I’m here to talk about it. Pretty bitchin’ if you ask me.

On Monday I got to work late, my boss took one look at me and sent me home to sleep. I sorta did. I read for class a lot of back stuff and dozed in the recliner in the sunroom with kitties. Made me feel tons better. I guess I had been doing a bit too much and not enough sleep, and that needed to be remedied, and napping in a chair most of the day did it.

Tuesday was a whirlwind, as I got to work and was there for about two hours (just enough to get some day-to-day stuff done plus a bit) before going off to the conference thing where I helped set up and smiled a lot with people for four hours. Not terribly long, but felt that way. Especially when I got to leave there and directly go to rehearsal. Rehearsal goes swimmingly, as expected, and I go home to do more much needed homework. Then, crash.

Wednesday was a very early start - had to be at the conference by 8-8:30a. I split the difference and got there by 8:15. Was rated as a success as many people came up and talked to us and asked questions and we got what we wanted from them. Just not as much as I had hoped. But we gave away an iPod Mini, so that was cool. (Crap, I don’t think I got that in the mail!) I worked a long day before going off to rehearsal. We did the short version (Silver River on speed) so we could all get home to do things before sleeping well and having to get up early the next day.

Thursday I got up early so I could get my oil changed and car inspected before I went to work. Well, that was the plan. I got up early and ate breakfast, which meant that I didn’t quite get in early as I wanted, but then got to work eventually and was there for about an hour. Since I hadn’t planned on coming in at all, the was an improvement. Then, it was off to the bank to deposit money and get money and then to the theater to load up my car. With a minorly loaded car (most of the stuff went in the ASM’s SUV), we were all off for Asheville at differing paces. I got our festival packet to get into different events throughout the next ten days and met everyone for load in at the space. Feeling accomplished, my ASM and I went in search of dinner at a little Mexican joint where she proceeded to encourage me to drink their most excellent margaritas. Early sleep.

Friday was a long ass day. We were back at the theater at 10:30a for a stage set with an 11am tech call. Our actress wasn’t called until 12:30p, and we wanted to at least set preliminary levels for lighting and sound before she got there. We almost made it. We were ready tech-wise and up for a break at 1:30p with a “go” for a speedthrough at 1:45p. We got done with the entire two hour show (including intermission) by 4p, which was very impressive. I met up with my friends and D in the middle of downtown for a quick dinner before being back at our hotel to change into my nice blacks. See, it’s opening night & there’s a major gala afterwards. To the point our esteemed hosts wore tuxes. I got to nosh on champagne and fruit dipped in a chocolate fountain after having a very successful opening performance. Then, I got to meet up with my friends to find a place to hang out before going home to bed.

And you would think, with all that stress done, I could sleep…right? Nope. Couldn’t get to sleep until 4am because it was too quiet. Grr.

But Saturday & Sunday were cool because I hung out with my friends the entire time. I got a tattoo done, which is beautiful (but we haven’t quite told the ‘rents yet). I also bought a fabulous new skirt and a present for a certain friend of mine. She’ll be getting a care package some time this upcoming month of goodies that are overdue but it’s been a pain finding something.

Now, I get to sleep in tomorrow (must put out “do not disturb” sign!) and relax until 3ish, when I have to go get ready for my 4p show. Gods I love theater festivals. Sleep, read, sight see the city and work for a few hours.

 

Tales of the sporadic

I love vacation. It happens so rarely, and usually it happens that between my three careers I don’t have a complete vacation. For example, I took off time in December from the library to go on tour (so I was doing theater work) and I was in the middle of a class. In July, when I was off from the library and theater, I still had class to go to. Luckily, I was in Charleston and “going to class” consisted of logging on to the newsgroups for about two hours before D got up in the morning.

Last week….that changed. For the first time since I started school 18 months ago, I had off from work, theater, and school. I almost didn’t know what to do. See, my last theater contract ended December 13th (with a speeding ticket, but I digress…). I’m currently in the middle of Computer & Information Systems for managers (wk 2: this is a computer), but they take a two-week break for Christmas & New Years - so class was ceased from December 23rd until January 5th. To cap it off, I decided to take the three days the office was open between Christmas and New Years off to go visit the folks (and friends!) up in Cleveland. I had from the 24th until the 2nd without a single commitment other than my flight times.

Of course, that doesn’t mean anything. I had Christmas to celebrate with D, which meant I relaxed on the 25th. I cleaned house on the 26th in preperation for not being their for four days. The 27th was supposed to be a breakfast date with elanova…but she had to get sick earlier in the month and use up her off time on being deathly ill. So Mom & I hit Camielle’s alone and saw Phantom of the Opera before having Christmas with my Z-family. (The A-family Christmas is due sometime in the future…D’s parents were in Chicago for the holiday with his sister.) The 28th was my parents 33 and a third anniversary - which meant an excuse to have a party and get everyone together. Out of the bridal party, we were only missing four people - two because they lived too far out of town and two because of cancer. Supposedly, there’s going to be a shindig this summer somewhere for everyone again. The 29th was a tradition for my mom & I - afternoon tea. We hadn’t done it yet in Cleveland, so we took advantage of this opportunity and had a good time. I also got to see the ZooLights, for once without freezing my extremities completely. The 30th had me coming home to my kitties and my boyfriend where we caught up, he openned presents, and we watched one of them (LOTR:TT). 31st was a party at our place (which meant prep, shopping, a champagne tasting first). 1st was spent in recovery (our guests didn’t get up until after 1pm!) and recycling. The 2nd was spent low-key, trying to work up to the fact that yesterday I started back full gear - the gym first thing in the morning, followed by a full day work, followed by the first rehearsal for a play.

Is it Friday yet?