Category: Endings

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"Other people" Being a girl Endings Self improvement Sentiment Theatre

Working hard, or hardly working

You know what’s underrated? The old-fashioned business letter.

I remember learning the format for these things in keyboarding class in high school. I sort of loved making my own letterhead (mine always had a strong Phantom of the Opera theme) and typing up important letters to important people.

We don’t really get to do that very much anymore.

I mean, even though I try to keep my emails nice and professional, I still get tons of work emails from people, using little punctuation or capitalization, and ending with that ubiquitous “Sent from my iPhone.” Like that’s supposed to excuse this mediocre attempt at communication:

“i see no thank you i do not have transportation but im sure other students will jump on this offer”

Also embarrassing is the email signature incorporating some song lyric or “Chinese proverb” that’s not really a Chinese proverb at all.

I got an email from someone the other day – it ended like so:

I’ve heard it said that people come into our
lives for a reason, bringing something we must
learn, and we are led to those who help us most
to grow, (if we let them) and we help them in return.

Also? No credit on that. So…plagiarism? (To avoid plagiarism myself, that’s from Wicked.)

Meanwhile, I gleefully typed this up this morning:

Not saying it’s perfect, but at least it’s not embarrassing. Simple pleasures…but pleasures nonetheless!

Categories
Awesome Endings Memoir Sentiment Technology Writing

My Relationship Status: “It’s Complicated” With “Technology”

I might hate CDs. I feel like they multiply, and they are everywhere in our apartment. But when do I play CDs? Occasionally, in the car. But why play a CD when I have all my music on my ipod? The CD in my car player right now is disc 1 of the PBS “Broadway – The American Musical” 5-disc series. It’s been there for months. I never listen to it. Not sure why I even picked disc 1 and stuck it in there. I should switch to a different one. (For a full listing of all the songs on each disc, click here.)

The down side of going through all your childhood stuff is that, if you’re a child of the same time period that I am, you have collected a lot of CDs. A lot of factory CDs, but also, a lot of CDs with unfamiliar handwriting – The Rocky Horror Show, or Poe’s Haunted, or even non-music CDs, like Mario’s Into The Woods Pics. It’s actually a relief when I flip a disc over and discover that it’s scratched beyond repair, and I can just toss it. Otherwise, I have to sit and think about whether I need a CD version of Poe’s Haunted, when I have the entire thing in digital form.

When I Google “recycled CDs,” I find this website telling me ways I can use old CDs for fun crafts. Here is an excerpt from that site:

Others have used old CDs to make disco balls, sun catchers, wreaths, mosaics, mobiles, party invitations and even bird treats — just coat the disc with peanut butter or bacon grease, dip it in bird seed, attach it to a tree with yarn and watch the birds flock to your yard.

Um, yuck. For some reason, the idea of using a CD for a bird feeder – covered in bacon grease, no less! – just grosses me out. What’s wrong with the good old-fashioned bird feeder, using a pine cone coated in peanut butter and seed?

Anyway. For now I’ve just been kind of stockpiling the CDs that I can’t bring myself to throw away, and chucking the ones that I can justify.

Future generations: You are so lucky (or, potentially, so unlucky in some way that I can’t even fathom) to have everything be digital. It’s so much easier, and you don’t constantly feel like you’re being wasteful. Although it makes me nervous to have everything just be floating around in cyberspace, I can usually tamp down the urge to print out everything and store it in a box for 12 years.

In a crossword puzzle yesterday, a clue was “a button on a cassette player” and the answer was “rewind.” Do you even know what that means, people who were born after 1995?? (A coworker suggested we call them “Generation Text.”)

PS. This is even crazier – I found this:


If I hadn’t already found the bound paper version of this Nanowrimo, that I had printed at Kinko’s back in 2003 (before it was Kinko’s/FedEx), the discovery of this floppy disk would have thrilled me, while also panicking me, as I have no idea where I could even put this thing.

As it is, I tossed it in the trash as well.

So long, past.

Categories
Being a girl Dreams Endings Not awesome Self improvement

Getting schooled

Sometimes, you make plans for something in your life – something you really have no control over. Things like hitting the lottery, or getting an unexpected gift from a wealthy family member, or winning a competition that over 1000 other people participated in.

Sometimes, even though people in your life tell you not to count your chickens before they hatch, you still totally count your chickens before they hatch, and you talk about how you just don’t know how you’re going to manage to find time to fly to New York City this summer when there’s so much other stuff going on.

Sometimes, even when you’ve told yourself not to count too much on something, you have still secretly let your hopes creep up until you’re expecting a final specific outcome.

Then, when that outcome doesn’t happen, you may be understandably let down. You may also be a little upset, although it’s hard to say where that should be directed. Probably at yourself for not taking the advice of everyone in the world, and just staying humble and unassuming.

Possibly you should just be grateful for the opportunity to learn a lesson…and a lesson during which no one was harmed or even seriously offended. Also be grateful for the blog post topic, since the only other thing you could think of to post today was (yet another) discussion of Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”

Update: I’m not sad. Don’t worry about me. I’m not super bummed. Just reflecting on what I learned here.

Categories
Awesome Endings

April’s End

Accomplishments from this week (based on the goals I set myself):

1. Go to the gym 4 times   I’ve gone 3 times this week. I’ll go tomorrow.

2. Finish Script Frenzy  Yay!

3. I want to start tracking on Weight Watchers online again.  Well…I tracked things. But I left plenty of room for improvement next week. On purpose.

4. Finish and submit a second guest commentary thing. Topic: How hard I think it would be to actually find a hidden duffel bag full of money in a strange house. Stay tuned.

So glad that April is basically done! Tomorrow will be a nice little normal domestic day, grocery shopping and watching Weeds Season 6. Can’t wait.

Categories
"Other people" Endings

How I learned to stop worrying and love jury duty

A couple weeks ago I came home to that great trifecta of mail: a credit card bill, a car insurance statement, and a jury duty summons.  Now Drew has had 2 jury duty summonses since we moved back in 2009, and both times he’s been dismissed the day before over the phone.  So I figured, this is no big deal.

Last Friday I called in after 6 pm, and instead of the message I was expecting (something like “Yay you! You’re dismissed already!”) I was told that I was on phone standby, and instructed to call in Monday morning at 11:15.  So I figured, oh well, I’ll get dismissed then.

Last night right before I went to bed, I realized that work totally thought I was going to be in jury duty all day, so I actually could have just stayed home from work. I thought very seriously about it. I had a busy weekend and it would be nice to get a little morning off, go to the gym, do some laundry, call in at 11:15 and be dismissed, and then just hang the rest of the day.

But I am a responsible adult so I got up this morning at my usual weekday time, dragged myself to the gym (so not feeling it today), came home, showered, packed a lunch, and went to work.

Then, of course, I was totally called in to the courthouse to sit in the jury assembly room and wait.

Here are some things about the Redwood City courthouse:

-They have computers and internet for everyone to use (although they ask that you limit your time to 15 minutes)
-They have wifi and power strips everywhere so if you have your own laptop you’re totally good to go
-They have  cafeteria with relatively cheap stuff (a sandwich for $4.00? a soda for $.85?)
-They do NOT have cell reception in the basement, and you can’t really leave the basement because then you can’t hear them page you
-When you are on stand-by, you’re NOT in the courtroom. You’re most likely sitting in the jury assembly room killing time.

How on earth did I get out of the house today without a book??

I sat and worked on my Script Frenzy script for most of the time. I also stared off into space. I also ignored the people around me who wanted to start conversations by saying things like, “You were called in too?” (“….Yup”) and “Were you here this morning?” (“No, or I would be in the courtroom already.”)  I wasn’t overtly rude to anyone but I really wasn’t there to make friends.  Sorry, fellow potential jurors.

They showed us a video on being a juror, and it was amazing. But when I looked around everyone else was either not paying attention, or they were just staring at it with glazed over eyes. So they were missing such gems as the “confessional” set up shots where “Former Jurors” said things like “My favorite part was the deliberation, because you get to speak your piece and you’re making a decision that affects another person’s life.”  One “Former Juror” said, “When I got called for jury duty, yes, I was scared, because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I brought a book and it was all okay.”  I mean, they’re so serious about it.

I started to get nervous that we would actually get called, but then the final courtroom called into the assembly room and said they had filled their juror box and we could be dismissed. Oh happy day! I hurried out of there, partly because I really had to go to the bathroom.  But I preferred to go home and use the bathroom there.

So overall, not the best jury story…that would have been getting onto one of them month-long juries…oh wait, then I wouldn’t be allowed to talk about it.  But I’m just so grateful that’s over, and I’m free to go back to work tomorrow (seriously), and get back to regular type life. At least until this weekend.

Categories
Awesome Children Drew Endings

The Mystery Face Game

 

Drew has this old Guess Who? game that we used to pull out whenever we were home from New York and killing time at his parents’ house. They finally sent it back to our apartment with us today, in the last box of his old stuff, and so we sat down to play a game.

But it’s too easy.  I mean, the game is for 6-year-olds, and the box suggests questions like, “Does your person wear glasses?” and “Does your person have blue eyes?”  Which…I thought you’re supposed to ask second-person questions?  “Do you have a hat on?” and “Do you look like an escaped convict?”

So in the past, in order to give the game an extra twist, we’ve restricted questions about gender, and anything to do with color.  But the game still lasts all of about 4 turns each, or about 60 seconds.

So today we started a new rule: Only questions about their occupations. 

We played three games this way, and it does take longer. 
1) You have to study all the faces you have left and come up with a good occupation that would help you narrow it down: “Are you in fashion?” 
2) Then you have to interpret the other player’s response: “Um…yeah? Yeah, I guess so” is a very different response from, “OMG yes.” 
3) Then you have to apply that response to all the faces, and use your best judgment whether or not to flip that little person down.

It was actually much harder than regular Guess Who?  In fact, no one won any of the three games we played.  Every game ended something like:

“Are you Sam?”
“No!  I’m Max!”
“What??  Oh, I guess Max might be a waiter.”
This was our Guess Who? swansong, because Drew is going to donate the game to his work.  But I did like the 10 minutes of fun it provided this afternoon!
Categories
Celebrities Endings Work

Winning

Charlie Sheen was fired from Two and a Half Men earlier this week, or late last week, or something.  I’m not sure, I’m a full week behind in my Sarah and Vinnie podcasts.  But so he was fired, like, officially.  Fired!  I thought about all the times I’ve been fired.

Oh wait.  I’ve never been fired. 

I’ve left jobs the right way, with 2 weeks’ notice and a decent, above-board reason for leaving (Wild Greens, Entertainment-Link). 
I’ve left jobs the shady way, emailing to say I’m not coming back (Jazz at Lincoln Center, and, I’m sorry to say, the SF Opera). 
I’ve left jobs because my time there has clearly expired (school jobs, Marin Theatre and other stage management gigs). 
I’ve left jobs and been totally relieved (box office for the NYPL, anyone?) and I’ve left and been totally bummed (Samuel French, Nightmare Haunted House).  
I even left a job halfway through training, day 1 (‘wichcraft).  

But I’ve never, ever been fired from a job.

Even when I might sort of have deserved to be fired.

So I guess aside from the fact that I’ve had about 25 jobs over the last 8 years, I’ve actually been pretty lucky.

Categories
Endings Sentiment Theatre Work

Closing Seagull

Things I will miss about Seagull:

-The people, etc, etc (this encompasses everything about friendship and memories and good times I’ve had – the rest of my bullet points will be more specifics)
-Craig shouting “I forgot my walking stick” at me
-Kostya’s Act I monologue about his mother, while he plays piano
-All the piano music, actually (luckily it’s all available on soundcloud!)
-Masha’s beautiful hair
-Waiting for Act III to start and making faces across the stage at the people in the other wing
-The Act III-Act IV transition

Things I will not miss about Seagull:

-The schedule, etc, etc
-2:45 running time…and then a full reset at the end of each show
-Watching the prop grapes get ickier and ickier over the week
-Resetting air vibrations

My favorite lines (in no particular order, and completely out of context):

Sorin: Bring ALL the horses here, NOW!

Arkadina: Light as a feather!  I could play a girl of fifteen.

Masha: Once I get married, I won’t have love on my mind.  I’ll have new problems to worry about.

Trigorin (to Kostya): Irina Nikoleyevna said you are ready to let bygones be bygones.

Polina: I know I’m too jealous.  I’m so ashamed.  You must be sick of me.
Dorn: No, no.  If you must keep talking, do.

Seagull isn’t closing quite yet, but I’m starting to feel the first pangs.  I’ll miss you, MTC.  Can’t wait to sit in the audience and watch Fuddy Meers in a month!

Categories
Endings Not awesome

RIP seagull (and maybe other seagull)

Yesterday I was walking from Bart to work, and waiting for the light to change at the corner of Grove and Larkin, across from the library.  There was some junk in the intersection, and as I stood there not really paying attention, two seagulls swooped down to eat the garbage on the street, and then a car zoomed through the intersection to make the yellow light.  I saw the seagulls look up and see the car, it happened so fast, and then the car took out both gulls.  One was smashed dead like that.  The other one flopped around for a little while.  This other woman and I just stared at each other.  Omg.

When I walked back past there that afternoon, the first seagull was practically a memory,basically  just some feathers in the street.  There was no sign of the second one.  It’d be nice to think it collected itself and flew away.  But I fear that the thuggish guys who hang out in front of the library released their pit bulls, and the dogs killed the second gull.

It was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen lately – it looked exactly like it looks in a movie when someone gets hit by a car.  The car itself never slowed, and I can hardly blame them, since who even knew you could hit a bird with a car?

So RIP seagull, and probably other seagull.  It’s the circle of life.  Except your life didn’t go to something noble like the food chain, unless the pit bull thing happened.  I suspect your bodies were just swept up by a street cleaner.

The scene of the crime
Categories
Awesome Endings

2010 in review

WordPress just sent me this email, and I like summarizing information, and bragging, so I’m clicking the “post to my blog” button.  I mean, they went to all this trouble…

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,600 times in 2010. That’s about 16 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 99 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 102 posts. There were 172 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 31mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 18th with 2,306 views. The most popular post that day was Be aggressive, be-be aggressive.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were wordpress.com, facebook.com, itsjenblue.blogspot.com, digg.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for sychela, sychela wordpress, tomato plant, tumble dry low, and hugh jackman.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Be aggressive, be-be aggressive November 2010
129 comments and 50 Likes on WordPress.com

2

About December 2009
1 comment

3

Nov 13 November 2010
5 comments

4

Saturn: Calypso November 2010
1 comment and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

5

A funny thing: a challenge! September 2010
14 comments

PS. I can’t remember writing anything about Hugh Jackman.  Oh yeah, one time I said he was being kind of racist on some late-night show.