A Gibson Girl

Yes, the fall arts season has begun in Columbus. And that means, we’re going to the theater! How exciting! I hope that if you are either seeing a show of mine, or attending a show and sitting next to me, you are excited and well-prepared to enjoy the performance we are about to see. 

But alas, it seems so few of you are! People are running in as the curtain is dropping! They are talking when there is dancing! They are unwrapping candy during quiet moments! They are throwing their limbs every which way!

Let us gently correct these things, my friends. 

1. Curtain time is not a “suggestion.” It is when the show will begin. Usually this is 7:30 or 8:00 for an evening show, and 2:00 for a matinee. So please do not arrive like the woman next to me did last night, with a huge coat, huge bag, bustling into her seat right as the announcements are being made, thereby causing general commotion everywhere around us. Plan to arrive early. 
2. Also, if you arrive early you can read the program notes or synopsis of the plot, which means you will not be asking “What is happening?” in loud whispers to your neighbors (yes, the woman next to me last night did that.) 
3. If you arrive late, obey the ushers, who will seat you at an appropriate pause in the performance. Please be quiet and quick when this happens and apologetic to the patrons you are disturbing. 
4. Do not wear huge amounts of perfume. Some, yes. Massive clouds of it, no. 
5. It’s coat season. Please do not flip, whip or otherwise toss your coat around as you may be accustomed to doing. You will hit people with it. 
6. TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE! No pictures! No texting! No email checking! You can do this at intermission if you so desire. If you are a transplant doctor, then you may have it on, but on silent. Most theaters have emergency contact protocols. If you need to be contacted during the performance, please talk to the house manager and/or the usher: leave your seat number with them so you can be easily found it need be. 
7. Theaters are comfortable; the directors, cast members, and stage crew want you to have a good time! This does not mean, however, that you are in your living room and can sprawl every which way! You have paid for one seat. And one seat only. If you would like MORE than one seat, please pay for it. Last night was the WORST example of this I have ever seen. The woman on my left was constantly bumping into me, thrusting her torso into my arm so she could see things on the stage, shoving her legs right on to mine, hogging the arm rest, and generally being a HUGE pain. I realize these seats are small-ish, but RESPECT THE PERSONAL SPACE OF OTHERS, PEOPLE! 
8. At the Symphony last week, the man next to me actually sat DIAGONALLY and had his legs on mine during part of a piece! This is totally UNACCEPTABLE! 
9. Also do this with your bag! Your bag cannot just go willy-nilly anywhere, or your coat! Please put your bag under your seat. And it would behoove you to have a lovely smaller evening bag so you are not carrying your Mary Poppins bag and risking injuring someone, or having no place for it!
10. Sometimes theaters provide you with food and drink. No wrappers in the theater, please! No crinkling! And usually beverages sans lid are not allowed back in the theater.
11. If you are with small children, make sure they are quiet, polite, and not kicking the seat in front of them. Make sure the show is appropriate for your child’s age, development, and maturity. 
12. If you see that people are waiting to get by you for the bathroom, lobby, etc., gracefully get up and let them by! Do not make people climb all over you!
13. Did I mention no talking? I’m going to mention it again. At the beginning of Act II last night, the woman on my left was blabbering to her companion for the first twenty seconds of the opening—which is a funeral sequence. I wanted to hit her! When the lights go down, the tongue stops. 
14. Notes on clapping: At the symphony, you clap when the concertmaster (first violinist) comes out. You clap again when the maestro (conductor) appears. You DO NOT CLAP between movements of a piece! The movements are clearly delineated in the program and there is usually a pause between them. Do. Not. Clap. You clap at the end of the piece, which is usually pretty easy to figure out. 
15. Applause for dance/theater: You may clap when a dancer does something awesome, like Odile’s 32 fouettes in Swan Lake, or the pas de deux in Don Quixote. This gives the dancers energy. You wouldn’t do this at an opera, when a singer hits a high note, for example. You would applaud post aria. When a solo piece or pas is finished, it is polite to clap. 
16. DO NOT LEAVE BEFORE THE CURTAIN CALL! I know you may think you’re invisible, but you’re not. We on the stage can see you, and it really sucks to know that you don’t care enough to stay to the end and applaud what we just did for you. Even if you didn’t like it, be polite! We just worked really hard. The parking lot is not that crowded. If you are going to attend an event, you are staying for ALL of it. If there is a post-concert lecture, of course you need not attend. But you DO need to stay and clap. 

I love seeing people attend the theater. It makes me happy. But please, for the sake of everyone, be polite!

—- 1 —-

Even though it’s past Labor Day, I still think it’s summer, because it still IS summer—Fall doesn’t start until later this month, dang it! So I am still clinging to the end of summer, because that’s the way I roll.  

—- 2 —-

Even so, I LOVE fall. I love all seasons, in their own way, although I get sick of winter the fastest. (As in, it can snow in December, and that’s it…then I’d like to be in the 40s until springtime when it can warm up more, thanks.) Other signs of “fall” are happening: activities at church are ramping up again, ballet class has started, as has BalletMet’s season (which opened in August this year). And fall/winter/spring audition dates for shows are popping up.

—- 3 —-

My first fall audition is on Sunday, for To Kill a Mockingbird. This is the easiest of all auditions—cold reads—because you don’t have to prepare anything, at least not in a way that needs presented. I’ll re-read the book and probably watch the movie again, but I’m so familiar with both that it won’t be a cram session. This is a different sort of adaptation, in that Mrs. Dubose has a bigger role than in the movie, and Mayella is being played by an adult. 

So as far as parts, I’d like to read for Jean Louise (as an adult, she narrates the show), Mayella (because it would be a challenge!) and Maudie Atkinson. But I’ve almost never gotten to read for the part I thought I’d read for pre-show. I cannot fathom how directors’ minds work. So, really, anything is fair game. 

—- 4 —-

Continued thoughts on casting: There are, as far a I can tell, two schools of thought: “looks” casting, and “character” casting. Some directors want people to look a certain way, and if you don’t look that way, it doesn’t matter how good you are, you aren’t getting the part. (This doesn’t work, obviously, for parts like, for example, Helen Robinson, who MUST be a black woman.) Some directors are more open, and if you can channel the character to their satisfaction, it doesn’t matter what you look like, because that can be changed. For example, I played Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest. I am not a 60+ woman. I was 28 or so when I played that part. The director, however, liked what I did in auditions. They wigged me, I did some makeup tricks, and voila, older woman. Obviously, I prefer directors who work this way. :) In House of Bernarda Alba , it wasn’t so drastic; Angustias was only 39, so nine years older than me. 

—- 5 —-

In preparation for the fall TV season, I’m catching up on Person of Interest. If you haven’t seen this show, I recommend you get it from Netflix or  whatever. Great, great drama with excellent acting. The fact that Jim Caviezel’s in it is just icing on the cake for me. :) 

—- 6 —-

I finally finished A Farewell to Arms last weekend, after dipping in and out of it all summer. The powerful, massive emotion of the ending makes up for just about all the digressions and war notes in the middle. He really had a knack for writing women characters. (And no, he did not take away “reason and accountability.”)

—- 7 —-

Book proposal, a big summer project, is still being worked on. It’s in its halfway finished stages, but that’s a big leap forward from the beginning of this summer.My objective is to have it finished by Halloween.

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• ballet
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Welcome!!!

I was REALLY excited for this recording. The only version I have is the full movie version, which is not precisely the same (it never is) as the stage show, so I wanted to hear the full Broadway version. And I’d also heard a lot of squawking about how high and hard the part is. So I wanted to hear that, too, and see if the squawking was right. Top it with the fact that Michael Cerveris (whom I’ve loved ever since I saw him as Thomas Andrews in Titanic) was singing Peron, and I was pretty excited.

Sadly, excitement not really lasting. 

The good points, first: 

• Michael, of course. He does a great job as Peron, not that I expected anything less. 
• Ricky Martin is a pleasant surprise. He does a nice job with the role, both in musical expression and in musical technique. 
• I definitely enjoyed hearing the whole scope of the thing. Some things are cut in the musical movie, which is to be expected, especially the “montage” which is the penultimate number in the show. Wow. That is awesome. 
• Great chorus work. 
• It’s, of course, ALW, whom I love. 

The bad points: 

• Oh, how I wanted to like Elena Roger! But no. It’s impossible. She’s Argentinian, yes, but her voice is nasal, grating, and brash. Her tempi are WAY TOO FAST. She takes the “Lament” like it’s a horserace, and the iconic “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” is zoomed through. I believe the tempo marking on that is Andante, or at most, moderato. NOT allegretto/allergo/quasi-presto. 
• Besides the singing, her acting is not that great (and yes, you can judge acting on a recording of a sung-through show. It’s like an opera). You don’t really like her in Act I, and she needs to be charming. She needs to have some sort of (projected or real) sweetness, appeal, SOMETHING to make all those men get into bed with her, to win over so many people, to get Peron to marry her, etc. Not there. And since it’s not there, Act II (which I think is one of the best Act IIs ever—more on that in a sec) doesn’t work, because why do we, the audience, care if she dies? We don’t. 
• The reason (one of the reasons, anyway) I love the role of Evita is the fantastic character arc. She goes from 15 to 33, from a provincial country girl to the First Lady and “spiritual leader” of Argentina. But also, she grows from being a striving grasper for position to someone who realizes, at the end, that she couldn’t have it all. “Dice Are Rolling” and “Lament” are sad. They are supposed to be wistful, introspective. When she sings “Oh/What I’d Give For A Hundred Years/ But the physical interferes/ Every day more/ Oh my creator/What is the good of the strongest heart/ in a body that’s falling apart/ a serious flaw/ I hope you know that.” (“Waltz for Eva and Che”) You should feel like crying when she’s done. The actress playing Eva has to be able to tap into that feeling of a young life suddenly being wrenched away (not like I have any experience with this feeling, or anything), but also discovering that her husband loves her for her, and not for her political advantage (“You Must Love Me”). Yes, she and her husband had crappy political policies. But you should genuinely feel sad for this woman, her husband, and her country as she’s singing the “Lament.” That’s not happening here. 

Oh, and for the range being really hard and really high? Bunk. Total, utter bunk. Christine in Phantom is much higher and harder. (I think the highest note in Evita’s role is a G5) This one can be sung by a good belter, and in fact, probably should, in some parts, because of the emotion in the songs. This is NOT a ridiculously “woman hating” role (as Patti Lupone famously called it). It’s long, but it’s not like Die Walkure long. Really, the acting is what makes this role. You can get a monkey to sing it. But if you can’t tap into the emotion, it’s flat. Cerveris and Martin do that. Roger, sadly, doesn’t, and thus it just doesn’t work. 

HOWEVER—it’s not a bad CD to have in your collection, because it’s been updated from the OBC with the edition of “You Must Love Me” in Act II. Cerveris is great. The music has also been updated a bit, thanks to ALW doing some more research on Latin-American music and rhythms. So if you’re a fan of Cerveris, get it. If you’re looking for a great Evita, get the OBC or the Madonna movie soundtrack (the two discer, please!). 

(and, really, art in general, and those who make it)

C.S. Lewis said, “We read to know we’re not alone.” I think art, in all its forms, does the same thing, or tries to: to connect humanity, and to remind us of the things that bind us together. 

In my sophomore year of college, I took the first part of the British Literature Survey. It went up to the beginning of the romantic poets, and started with Beowulf and things like The Dream of the Rood. One day in class, a fellow student asked why we were studying things written by old—and dead—white men, and what possible bearing this could have on our lives, as 21st century students. 

The professor smiled slightly and leaned back in his chair. “What do you guys think? Does this have relevance?”

“Sure,” someone said. “”They’re classics.”

“But why are they classics?” Asked the professor. 

“Because they’re good?” Someone else. 

“Why are they good? What about them has stood the test of time?” Silence. “Could it be that they speak to some universal human experience?”

“There are no universal human experiences!” said the first student.

The professor lifted his eyebrows. “Really?”

“That’s not true,” I said. 

“OK.” The professor said. “What’s universal?”

“Birth. Death. Love. Loss. For starters,” I said. “No matter where we live, or how we live, everyone experiences these things. There may be differences in how we do it, but they’re in every human life. The things that endure touch on these things.” 

***

From the beginning, humans have craved connection. “It is not good for man to be alone,” God says in Genesis. Cavemen drew on walls. Ancient civilizations wrote on stone tablets things that we, so many years removed, cannot decipher. Why did they do it? 

The urge to express, to create, is truly a human urge. We pick up pen or paintbrush, or raise our voices in songs or words, to express emotion, to convey our humanity and to connect with others. To capture an ephemeral moment that says, “I was here, and I mattered, and these people mattered, too!” To capture beauty, which is all too fleeting, as Robert Frost noted in his poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” 

As humanity and technology have evolved, so too have our forms of expression. Movies started as “talking pictures” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. No sound, just expressions and movement. It was the birthing of a new art form. 

The power of film combines visual art, music, and acting into a powerful whole. The best movies touch something deep inside us, that move us to tears or laughter or to cheer—even when we know the screen won’t react to whatever we do. And the very best movies, like the very best books, change as we get older: our relationship to them changes, and they reveal deeper parts of us.

Few will deny that The Wizard of Oz is a classic film. When I was a child, I watched it incessantly on our VHS player. (This being the 80s, VHS was new technology, and the tape itself probably cost more than the machine—the movie ran about $80!) I’ve always loved its signature song, “Over the Rainbow”, so much so that when my aunts got married (my mom was third in a big family, ergo I had a lot of weddings to attend as a child), my grandfather would ask the band to play the song for me. 

But as I got older, I understood the intense longing and melancholy, and even brute sadness, behind Dorothy’s song in the barnyard. It wasn’t just that she was bored, or that Aunt Em was scolding her; it was a deep yearning for a better life. That sort of thing goes over the head of a three year old. 

Movies have become a cultural parlance, a shorthand. You know “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” even if you’ve never seen Gone With the Wind. Same with “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” or “play it again, Sam” (which is, actually, wrong. Bogart doesn’t say that.) 

A lot of movies are based on books, or plays, which can lead some to say, just read the original source material! And, yes, as a huge advocate of reading, I’ll support that. But movies are a communal experience, at heart, that reading just isn’t. Even if you’re watching it at home alone, you talk about the experience later, or go to the internet to read what others thought of it. Movies, like plays, lend themselves to group discussion and interaction, much like music and visual art. 

Now, like I said, not all movies are art. That is clearly true. But to disregard an entire art form because some of the pieces are less than stellar is short-sighted. There are many more jewels than fools’ gold in the movie pantheon. 

And what about the people who make the movies? Are they just “playing dress-up?” Are they being children? No! They are bringing these stories to us. Like Homer and the great authors, they are storytellers, albeit in a different medium. To call an actor a child playing dress up is like saying a ballerina just twirls for a living, or that Monet just dabbled in paints. To be a good actor requires an enormous commitment to the character and the world the production is creating. To provide good entertainment, and to make good art, is not easy. It doesn’t matter what sort of art it is: a painting, a sculpture, a novel, a ballet, or symphony, a musical. All of these take tremendous talent, effort, and dedication. 

Not every movie has a deep message. Not every movie is going to be preserved in the Library of Congress. But civilization is built on art of all kinds and all mediums. It’s what makes us truly human. 

So, in the midst of summer blockbuster season, go see a movie or two. Find one that appeals to you, and see what it gives you. Is it a great score? Great special effects? Fabulous costumes? Brilliant scriptwriting and peerless acting? Or maybe just a great, fun story? All of these things are great reasons to see a movie. And when all of these are combined, you have a truly great film. 

Friday: The show. Did I mention the show?  Came home, watched an episode of Bones from the season 6 DVD set, went to bed.

Saturday: Clips. Gym. Shower. First Watch. (looove First Watch) Came home to take out trash, do load upon load to dishes, and general cleaning. Then—the show! 

Sunday: Church. The show—the last one. :( tear. I’m going to miss everyone. Then dinner at Catalfino’s with my parents. Grocery shopping (Here’s the weekly meal plan). Watched a few episodes of Rachael Ray to gear up for this week’s cooking. MORE putting stuff away. And I bought a tomato plant! Hopefully I’ll get it in the ground tomorrow and I will have roma tomatoes this summer!

Good news today: The Insurance Powers That Be have decided to cover my CI upgrade. Rejoice, new bionic ear is comin! Happy about that. 

Feast of St. Pope Pius V, OP

Outside my window…sunny and warm—in the low 80s—with patchy clouds coming in. The weather forecast has been predicted rain all day, so we’ll see if it’s right.

I am wearing..Gap boyfriend jeans, a violet J. Jill tank top

I am reading…Helen Keller in Love—I just got my advanced copy! whee!—Wish You Were Here, The Song of Achilles (both of these, again) 

Listening to…a mix CD in my car

Thanks for…confession, daily Mass, a good opening weekend of the show 

Praying for…friend taking med school boards, Margaret and her baby

Rhythm in the house…it’s weird….M-W I have free evenings, but Th-Sat. evenings I have the show. So I am cherishing the “show free” days to relax and get some stuff done around the house.

Keeping House…like the segue? :) vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen. I have bouquets of flowers, which I adore, but that also means petals on the floor and stem bits from the cutting. :) Oh, and I LOVE THIS. 

From the kitchen…if the sirloin *ever* thaws, I’m having spicy mint beef tonight, from Weeknights with Giada. Not sure about the rest of the week, although I have some ideas marinating. 

Garden notes…I want to get the seeds in the soil this week. That means—I have to buy soil. Not pots, though. The people who lived here last left me a planter, so I’m going to use that. 

Living the liturgy…Mass as often as possible during the week. LOH, rosary. Tech weeks really throw this off. 

This week…Tomorrow, lunch with dad; Th-Sun, the show. 

1. OK, so to start off, in honor of Jen (who hosts this thing!), she retweeted one of my most popular posts from the old Bucket—If I Never Knew You. Thanks, Jen! I sort of updated that post here. I hope you enjoy. If you have any comments/feedback, I’d appreciate it! 
2. This is sort of 1a, but yeah, I’m on twitter. I’m @capchoirgirl. My twitter productivity varies widely! And can one say “twitter productivity”? Probably not. 
3. The birthday celebrations have continued! Cupcakes at rehearsal on Wednesday—when blocking death, chocolate is good to have—and dinner with my friends after rehearsal today. We’re going to Mezzo in Gahanna, one of my favorite restaurants. 
4. Rehearsals are ROCKING. Today we’re running Act III off book and then tomorrow we’re whole hog—running the entire show! Really excited. Also excited because this week is the week we start to build in the set and work with props. TIme to break out the character shoes!
5. Been working on the physical activity. Went two miles on the treadmill on Thursday and going to hit it today as soon as I’m done with this. :) I actually enjoy it….shhh, don’t tell anyone!
6. Read a lot of great books this week, but my favorites were Imagine: How Creativity Works, and The Song of Achilles. Both brilliant. 
7. I am really mad at my hockey team. In fact, I may just ignore them the rest of the year. 

1. Another weekend, another…tornado warning. This is getting to be a habit. And if it’s going to continue, my basement needs lamps and a couch, post-haste.
2. Tonight I got to do something fun—I got to design my birthday cake!  I have NEVER done this. It was supposed to be a surprise, but since my mom is sick, I went with my dad. It’s a Wizard of Oz cake, of course, with red velvet and milk chocolate layers. The ruby slippers, Toto and the yellow brick road are all incorporated. It’s going to ROCK! (And cream cheese icing) I’m having it with my family on Easter Sunday since my birthday is a rehearsal night. I will, of course, post pics. 
3. While doom and gloom is being predicted on my TV, I made crab quiche, from a Whole Foods recipe. It’s currently got about 30 minutes to go. I love quiche, but have never tried it, and this recipe sounded easy and perfect. Also this weekend, I’ll be making my basic tomato sauce for pasta puttanesca next week. 
4. Rehab is going well—done on Wednesday! I can’t believe it. Today was hard but it’s supposed to be at this point. I definitely have more energy and feel a lot better. 
5. I watched HOP this week: it’s really cute! If you have kids, or just like cute movies, I recommend this one. Neat animation, great voice work (Hugh Laurie!) and it’s just sweet and funny. I might even watch it again. 
6. Reading: Finished Ahab’s Wife, and really liked it! 
7. The Play: Going well. We’re off book Act I tomorrow so checking my lines tonight, but I think I Have them all. Acts II and III are harder for my character. 

1) YES I am seeing The Hunger Games this weekend! Probably tomorrow since I imagine tonight is well-nigh sold out. So tomorrow afternoon (it’ll be cheaper, too, ha.) I am vastly excited! Will post report when I get back tomorrow.

2) Saw a fantastic show last night—Columbus Civic’s Moby-Dick: Rehearsed. Wow. Some background: I really dislike the novel Moby-Dick. In college, I signed up for a class called 19th century American novels, because the course description listed things like Little Women. So I thought I’d break out of my Anglophile-heavy load and take something new. Well….not so much. 

First of all, the novel is one part an awesome story and one part Whale Encyclopedia. The latter bored me to tears, and parts of the former are….not so awesome. Reading quizzes with questions like “who was in the first harpoon boat?” only furthered to kill any fire I had regarding this novel. I have tried to read it again (last year, being the most recent) and again the Whale Encyclopedia has defeated me. So I was a little hesitant about the play. 

The play is fantastic. Its premise is that it’s a theater troupe rehearsing Moby-Dick, so things like the boats, and, of course, the Whale, are imagined, which makes for a really immersive audience experience. The cast was great and I had a fantastic time. Maybe this is how Moby-Dick should have been written—as a story about revenge and obsession, instead of whale facts!

3) Had dinner with my parents at IHOP, where, despite the fact that one was recently built near my house, I haven’t been to in 12 years. In spring of 2000, my high school upperclassmen choirs did a “Florida Tour”—singing at Disney World, and competing in a national choral competition.  We drove the 23 hours from Pickerington to Orlando, and when we arrived at 7 am the next day, we went to an IHOP, with a jukebox and a very tropical vibe, thanks to the palm trees around the property. We were a bit sleep deprived and starving: those pancakes were great. Tonight I had their Maui Shrimp, which, surprisingly, was really good. I was skeptical of anything non-breakfast at a breakfast place. 

4) I’m watching Xavier play Baylor, and am, of course, rooting for the Ohio team. It’s close right now with 1 minute left in the half. OSU won last night, and I’m hoping that Ohio U could pull off the miracle against UNC, but I’m doubtful. Still, it would be awesome. 

5) Rehab is still going well…weight being lost, heart cooperating, all is well! Did a great leg circuit today—20 steps (each leg) on a step (like in stem aerobics), 20 releves (except the PT calls them “calf raises”), and 12 wall squats. Then repeat. It’s a great workout for the entire leg/bottom half of the body. 

6) Rehearsal for Bernarda Alba starts on Sunday! I am soooo excited! This is going to be a great, great show. I’ve always wanted to be in a drama—like a straight play drama—so this excited me greatly. I’ve met one of my castmates (she was at Moby Dick last night) and I think we’re going to have a really talented group of women. 

7) Just completed a big food shop at Target. I was surprised to see they have nice furniture! And COUCHES! I mean, wow! It was a fairly comfy one, too! Might be a candidate for the basement room…

First show of 2012: The House of Bernarda Alba, at the Columbus Civic, where I did Earnest last year. 

I’m playing the eldest daughter. She’s got a fiancé. That her sisters want. Dark Spanish Drama!

Rehearsals start next Sunday. I am totally psyched!

Outside my window…a sunny day, but it started with snow on the car. The snow is gone now and it’ll be in the 50/60s midweek. Ca-ra-zy weather. Just crazy. Not that I’m really minding. :)

I am wearing…jeans from Kohl’s an a blue J. Crew cashmere sweater. 

I am watching…The Help

I am reading…Church Fathers (BXVI’s series of Wednesday audiences); re-reading Harry Potter; Death On A Friday Afternoon

In the CD player…Renee and Byrn, Under the Stars. Oh, how I love this disc.

I am waiting…for news on auditions. Gah, I hate this!

Looking forward to…Sleeping Beauty at BalletMet this weekend! Also, Renee’s new disc, arriving at my house tomorrow. French songs! C’est vrai! :) 

This week…Rehab W and F. Super Tuesday Tomorrow! Something on Thursday but it’s slipping my mind…Sleeping Beauty weekend. :) 

From the kitchen…oh, I need to plan. I’m not really planning this. I am, however, planning my herb garden. I am excited. :) Basil, thyme, oregano, mint, parsley. Yummm. 

Celebrating…today is my friend Branden’s 30th birthday! :) 

Around the house…finally downloading Lion onto my Mac, which means I can use iCloud now—huzzah! Cleaned the kitchen, dusted, polished the upstairs dresser this weekend. Also working on some new filing systems for all the paper I have around these parts. 

Friday: Rehab started—pulm rehab, because my doc wants me to do it. (Being totally honest here. It’s not like it’s a real PHYSICAL NECESSITY right this second. My lung function is around 60%, which is good for me.) Basically it’s exercise/nutrition/rec therapy/massage, all that fun stuff…most of the people I see I are fun, and it’s almost swimsuit season, so I’m not going to object to me being all summer ready. :) Right? I am glad the pool is about to open.

Friday was also BIG storm night…tornadoes in the southern part of the state, but here just lots of thunder, rain, lightening, winds. I slept from 6-9, then watched A Gifted Man finale (for the season, I hope I hope I hope, I LOVE this show!). Poor Michael. He has girl trouble left, right and center. Poor Man. (Also reaallly hard to believe given how good looking Patrick W. is. Sigh.) 

Then, bed. 

Saturday: Slept in, had coffee, did clips…did some cleaning, watched Harry Potter (I’m on a kick lately) and ran errands—Staples, Hallmark, etc. Lenten conference at 4:00, Mass at 5:00. Dinner—bagels and a carrot and star anise winter soup from Cooking in Provence by Patricia Wells. Really good soup, but I need a food processor for it, to get the puree right. And very, very winter appropriate. 

Sunday: AUDITION! Had an audition at the Civic today where I did, coincidentally, channel Prof. Snape during one of my readings. Hee hee. Waiting for results, as usual, sadly….because we all know how I do waiting SO WELL. 

Cleaning, watching The Help, and dinner at Chinese Restaurant with the parental units. So, a good time! 

How was your weekend?