Long Weekend, Long Survey.

Oh what a long, long weekend.

27 of the last 48 hours were spent in a dark theatre hunched over a tech table and a score in a binder that weights a good ten pounds. Light cues. Media cues. Fly cues. Calling the show. Writing cues. "HOLD!" Music stops. Caffeine. Doughnuts. Pizza. McDonalds. Quiznos. Sugarfree Redbull. Sneaked cigarettes. Bleary eyes. Not enough sleep. Hard theatre seat from the 1970s. Neck cramp. Back ache (what else is new?). Dragging heavy platforms. Yelling at late singers. Cursing.... Listening to the Queen of the Night nail her famous aria. Seeing the stage look like it is a rolling ball of flames in the temple of fire. Laughing at the comedic characters' reveal and romance. Seeing the serpent slink out to open the show. Watching the leads find one another and be safe and together for a happily ever after. The stage positively ringing as 55 amazing voices sing out into a darkened theatre in perfect harmony.

That is tech weekend.

There is the good, the bad, the exhausting, and the tedious. But it usually ends up being worth it. Being in the theatre was adventure enough, but let us compare evening notes, post-rehearsal.

Friday Night

I went and watched another run through, pre-tech. I was supposed to get light cues but as usual we were way wayyy behind schedule. At least I got to see it again. I go home a little after 11. I get home around 11:45 or so. I sit down and make Ryan his "honey do list" (as he calls it) for the weekend. He had his first dinner with the Masons the night before (yes THE masons, he wants to join) and really wanted to tell me about it. I was exhausted and knew I had to be up super early but I knew he was excited so I agreed to go with him for ONE cigarette. We sit and talk for a bit about it and he goes to have another one. I am freezing in some baggy sweats and slippers and totally exhausted so I stop him. We get up to go inside and he looks at me and goes...

"Do you have your keys?"

No keys. No phones. No answer at the leasing office. Buzzing our ONE neighbor who has her doorbell hooked to her home 3 times and one hour later we get back inside at 1:30am.

I was ready to kill him. I may have punched him hard in the arm once. Or twice. I was so cold and tired and I had to be up at 8 to run errands pre-rehearsal. He got to sleep in.

He did try and help me fix my back though (sitting on a stoop for an hour did not help back pain) since it was too late for me to take my medicine and still wake up in the morning.

Flash forward 14 hours to Saturday Night

Long long day in the theatre. I finall get to go home at 11:30pm after being there since 9:30am. I am driving on North Capital St in the center lane. I am going slow as I know it is a sucky place to drive so I am being careful. Guy in the left lane was not. All of a sudden I lurch to the right as his front bumper hits me and scrapes the entire side of my car. I try to get out of the way and nearly get hit by a bus on the other side who honks at me as the guy who hit me tries to gesture at me to pull over.

My first car accident.

We pull over on the side of the road and I get out of my car shaking and crying. Damage is all cosmetic and I am shaken up but fine. The guy claimed full responsibility from the start and gave me all his information as he apologized. We both have GEICO so we call and get the claims in and finally after midnight I get to go home again. My mom was on the phone with me when I got hit (in a hands free device down in the middle counsel, promise!) so I called her back and filled her in. Then I had to call Ryan. You know any phone call that starts, "I am ok..." usually is not good. But he told me if I was ok and the car was ok just to come home. I walk in the door and he just stood and gave me a hug and I cried for about twenty minutes.

I really never want to go through that again.

It also made tech yesterday feel very long. But Ryan came and sat with me on dinner break and then stayed to watch us tech act two. He shocked me more when he said he couldn't wait to come back and see the show finished! Not bad since he sat there three hours and watched them sing in German with no translation.... he also did all the grocery shopping, a huge clean of the entire apartment, and laundry. I love him!

Two more minutes working here than off to the theatre til 11:30pm again.

This time next week it is done! Cannot wait to sleep.


I did this earlier to stay awake, feel free to do it if you're bored! I got it from Bella N Chief's blog.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - not the top but lower level....
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill not in this new job though
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors one of them anyway, sort of
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing

What happened to 49?

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie stud
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving in a windtunnel....
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - does from an airplane count?
80. Published a book - I had a poem published in one?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House - not inside, but outside?
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - fish count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee


55 definite dones and 5 maybe. I want to do a lot of the things on this list so who knows what the future will bring? Somethings I definitely can go the rest of my life without doing, like bouncing a check, but most of the travel related ones I definitely want to do!