do not combat grumpiness with alcohol

Words to live by. Alcohol is a depressant, and grumpy people don't need further depressing!

Thus, I am doctoring my working-too-many-12-hour-days, no-money, no-social-life, desperately-needs-a-haircut grumpy self with pizza (currently in the oven). If that doesn't do the trick, chocolate will follow.

Annnnnd we're back

That is how most stage managers I know announce the end of a break in rehearsal. Since my entire Christmas trip represented a break in rehearsal, it seemed meet to use the phrase here.

The holiday was lovely. And I came back and found that my annual amaryllis had bloomed. It's sporting two gorgeous, fully blown frilly pink-and-white blossoms that are almost as wide across as my hand can spread, and there are two more buds about to open. The waiting mail included some cards from friends and family members. All in all, a pretty fair way to return to CA.

However, my body's still somewhat on East Coast time. So if I want to get to the gym tomorrow morning (which I do, I do), it's time now for a bath and bed.

season's greetings

It's winter solstice, a great day for celebrating divinity of all kinds. I'm about to head out for a few days with family, so I leave you with the lyrics to an old carol that I sang with the music director at the Church of What's Happenin' Now this past weekend.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul
What wondrous love is this, O my soul
What wondrous love is this
That taught the Lord of bliss
To send this perfect peace to my soul, to my soul
To send this perfect peace to my soul

Ye winged seraphs fly, bear the news, bear the news,
Ye winged seraphs fly, bear the news
Ye winged seraphs fly, like comets through the sky
Through all eternity, bear the news, bear the news
Through all eternity, bear the news

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb,
Who is the great I AM,
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on;
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on.
And when from death I'm free
I'll sing His love for me,
And through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And through eternity I'll sing on.

healthy again

The cold has been defeated. Au revoir, cold.

'Tis the weekend before Christmas, and I'm spending most of the time working. I got up early this morning to get the oil changed in my car, and since I don't need to be at work till midafternoon this gives me several hours to do errands and general life management. My Christmas gifts for family are all on their way to the house where I'll be staying next weekend, so I'll do the last bit of shopping today (picking up one part of a gift, and all the stocking stuffers) and voila! I will be done.

I expect I'll have to go to rehearsal tomorrow also, and since the director intends to take both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, they're making up the missing day by working on Monday. It's an unusually long stretch of rehearsal days in a row; the ordinary Equity schedule is six days on, one day off. If you want to change that the Equity members in the cast have to vote to approve it.

I will get back to blogging about the church stuff eventually. It's interesting to me to approach the winter solstice and think about all the holidays celebrating divinity in many forms around this time of year. I love this season, with early sunsets and long dark nights (I almost wrote "long frosty nights," but I'm in SoCal!) So whether a person is celebrating Yule or Solstice or Christmas or Hanukah or Kwanzaa or any of the other holidays marked all over the world as we get ready to approach the sun again... happy holidays to you all, brothers and sisters.

And for those of you keeping score at home, my annual amaryllis is now 10" tall. It has leaves and a bud, but I can't tell yet what color the bloom will be.

the virus that ate my brain

So it's a real, full-blown cold. Buy stock in Kleenex, everyone, and I'll make you rich.

I actually endorse taking time off from work to recover when one has a contagious germ. So why, then, am I not doing the thing I endorse? Because this germ decided to come visit during a week that goes something like this:

Saturday, Sunday -- rehearse all day for play reading at work
Monday -- work all day, attend play reading at night, facilitate post-reading audience discussion
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday -- prepare for beginning of rehearsals for world premiere at work AND prepare for freelance workshop of different new play in different city over the coming weekend
Friday -- rehearse for world premiere at work; run to airport, go to other city, begin workshop of other new play
Saturday, Sunday, Monday -- remain in other city, working on other new play
Tuesday -- catch screamingly early morning flight back here, recommence rehearsing for world premiere

And the problem is, all this work really deserves my peak mental faculties. Right now, those faculties are buried under sinus pressure, fluctuating body temperature, fatigue and cold medicine fog. I feel physically bad, but I also feel bad for the playwrights!

single-celled organism

California has this reputation as a health-crazed state. People eat their greens, do their yoga, run on the beach, etc. etc. You wouldn't think germs would be permitted here.

Alas, they are. All of my co-workers have suffered colds in the past couple of weeks, and yesterday afternoon while I sat in rehearsal for a play reading I felt little microbial claws start to sink into the lining of my throat. I made it through the day and the evening reading with post-play discussion, feeling a bit feverish on top of the sore throat. When I woke up this morning, I had reason to fear I may be in for at least a mild case of the cold that is marching through my theatre's staff.

It would be good if this happened at a time I could take a couple of days off and stay home with my germs. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm behind on a couple of important work tasks that factor into the start of rehearsals for my next full production on Friday, and I need to get ready for a workshop of a new play this weekend.

So here I am with my cup of tea, my throat lozenges and my expectation that things are going to get worse. I took this morning off because I worked all weekend and last night, and I need to make sure I get to the polls to help elect a new U.S. Representative (the previous holder of that seat left it to go run the S.E.C.) But I need to be in at work around noon.

Send good vibes to my sinuses!