it's official.

i'm exhausted.

remember everyone, sketchcore's URBAN LEGENDS opens next friday february 3rd.

click on the sketchcore link to the right for more info...if you dare.

don't look down.

i'm knee-deep in redmoon rehearsals this week.

yesterday i learned to stilt-walk. i got strapped into the stilts with pieces of fabric and then my feet and knees were wrapped with duct tape.

i'm not sure if you know this, but stilts make you a lot taller.

the hardest part was the falling down. you're supposed to fall forward and lean back, using your knees instead of your hands to break your fall. so i fell a couple of times. blammo! blammo! i tried to play it cool, but one of the falls hurt my back. i shook it off, though...that's what one must do when one is a stilt-walker. i hope i never have to actually fall because it's a long way down.

i can dream.

here in chicago, it's icy and snowy again and i'm starting to grow weary of it. we got tricked by mother nature over the past month or so. forties, fifties...we were spoiled. and then more snow, reminding us that winter is far from over. arg. too much time in the house, not enough skin feeling the breeze of warm, outside air...i'm missing spring/summer, of course. this is why i strongly believe that the changing of seasons (and having as close to four of them as possible) is so important to my well-being. i am positive that without seasons, i would have trouble looking forward. the seasons force us to be ok with time and the passage of it. i dunno...maybe.

i love it when you are in the thick of summer in the middle of one-hundred-something degree heat and you're sure there's no way it can get any hotter and there are no more clothes to remove and you've cranked the little window unit up full-blast and herded your kitties into your bedroom with you so that they don't expire from heat exhaustion and you're thinking (as you nearly pass out): sweet heavens, i cannot wait for SNOW!

then the snow comes. and it's gorgeous. and charming. and it keeps coming. and it turns from pure white to crunchy and grey. it melts and then repeats the process over and over again. and you can leave your house, but it's harder to leave cause it's super-cold out there and inside there's food and drink and soft covers on a warm bed with another body in it and you really don't want to leave and it's dark when you leave the house, if it could only be all windows-open, warm breezes, and sweaty bike rides. i miss summer.

this is what the seasons promise: you will wear a t-shirt/sweater again.

polly

this is polly. she is a cat that lives at my house.

likes: food, scratching at the side of the bed, sitting on b's lap, rolling on the floor when we get home.

dislikes: getting picked up, too much petting, when i cry or sing.

she's even prettier in person.

morning thoughts 01.23.06

good morning, all!

i hope everyone's weekend was super-splendid! mine was nice...i got to babysit for my friend l (who actually had a pretty rough night. he and i bonded over a bunch of puke...his, not mine...now i feel even closer to my inner parent, poor little guy). i also got to visit with some old friends which always feels good to reconnect (despite the fact that hipster geeks have decided to throw pieces of candle wax at your head in a very fourth grade attempt to flirt with you). spent some quality sushi time with shels and some post-show drinkin' time with b. sunday was lazy and lovely...so incredibly nice to have a day without a single plan. that won't happen again for a while.

it's my dad's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! everyone send my dad birthday wishes, ok?

walter?

my legs are cold. on top, i've got a cozy sweater on, but on the bottom, m'legs are COLD. help me!

alright. i suppose i'll live.

i'm feeling pretty good about things right now. sketchcore did sketchfest and had a ton of fun. i am officially inspired. our potential energy is contagious.

so...redmoon workshop tonight, a commercial on thursday, babysitting on friday...a haircut today!

tra, la, la...i've been spending a lot of time fixin' up sketchcore's myspace page...trying to figure out how to decipher html and decorate the page with our signature colors. i love my job.

it rains outside. it was sunny and we were spoiled for a few days and now it rains.

the tops of my legs are cold.

today one of the two-year-olds called me 'walter.'

to those of you who came out to the sketchfest last night, thank you thank you thank you!

we had a wonderful time onstage last night...the lights went up, we said our lines, and amazingly, people laughed! everything went according to the plan!

hooray!

tonight.

well, tonight is the night. it all comes down to this. every bead of sweat, every piece of office paper stolen, and every "i'm running late" phone call leads up to this very moment: sketchfest. tonight. 8pm.

i encourage everyone to look deep within themselves to find a place of peace and calm. look inside yourself to find a place where little faeries dance on the tops of rainbow-colored lollipops. a place where electric blue forget-me-nots are tied up with pieces of silly string. a place where trillions of twinkling sky-lights are powered by gnomes riding tricycles underneath a blanket of cotton candy clouds. find that place. find it and then come see our show.

if you can't come to the show tonight, i suppose you can see it later. ...but you might miss the faeries.

ready.

i am at work late today. i switched shifts in order to attend a late-night party for b's opening last night. i continue to be re-impressed by everything that he does. it's amazing. i also had a morning audition, so it all worked out just perfectly. tonight i get to go to my third workshop for my upcoming show with redmoon. very, very exciting. i feel like i've been in a sort of holding pattern, waiting to get started with rehearsals and such. i'm anxious to get into a more consistent schedule. laurens need stability!

ok...bye for now.

i'm feeling a bit iffy.

i've been feeling this way for a couple days now and i am hoping against hope that i won't get sick. i simply can't. i've too much to do this week...rehearsals for redmoon, sketchfest on thursday...and much in-between.

i just spilled water on myself.

but moving on, i am anxious to make it through this week. it's gonna be a tough one.
i am super-excited to perform our show. we've been furiously rehearsing and i believe we are in desperate need of an audience. i know i feel like we're at that point where you are so familiar with the material that you begin to wonder if any of it is actually funny. i suppose we'll see how it goes on thursday...i'll let you know.

i am also beginning rehearsals for the spring production at redmoon theatre. it promises to be spectacular and delicious. that's all i can tell you now...

have a lovely day everyone!

as i eat my cranberry scone,

i'm looking at a tall stack of orange flyers along with a taller stack of envelopes. i've been instructed to fold the flyers in a very specific way. news flash: i don't give a care.

i realized that my recent posting activity has been a bit lazy. you know, a picture here, a haiku there...but trust me, i've been keeping busy. there were a lot of auditions this week. er, at least b and i had quite a few between the two of us. yesterday i had one for a health insurance company and then one for a newspaper...both pretty tame. b did the newspaper one too. but today he gets to audition for a transvestite and i get to do his makeup! yes! the task won't be without obstacles though, due to the fact that he's got a pretty wicked mustache for the play and i'm gonna have to work around it. not worried, not at all...if they want someone pretty, they picked the right boy...and makeup artist.

one of my favorite auditions was for an fast food restaurant (which will remain nameless in order to protect its anonymity). i was asked to dance around, in a very "free-spirited" and "fun" way. then after my totally casual, fun dance, i was to casually collapse into the chair provided for me, pick up a "breadstick" (a hot dog bun), take a bite and make like i loved it.

well folks, i did my best. however, there are two things that might've been working against me.

1) the music. beyonce's "crazy in love." i mean, fine...it's the perfect song to which one can shake it...but only on "girls' night," only after a copious number of vodka cranberries and only in the privacy of one of your apartments...not at 10 am and not with a hot dog bun.

2) my lipgloss. let me do a little math for you: gloss + bun = sticky bun. and not in a good way. i tried to play it off, but i'm sure it was obvious. my fake breadstickbun got caught on m'gloss.

i like to think of the people watching the tapes. i like to think of them just laughing and laughing. then rewinding the tape to the best/worst parts and laughing some more. i just hope that my auditions can provide them with some joy. a break in the monotony of the long-haired, heeled boot-wearing beauties on the rest of the tape. a short-haired weird girl who has no problem laughing at herself.

urban legends...

"...you will laugh your last laugh."
(please come see us...we'd love it. we probably won't kill you.)

happy new one!

hope everyone's new year's was safe and happy.

another sneek of a peek...sketchcore, dudes. look out.