friday

auditorium teching again. good times. this time mars hill academy is putting on pirates of penzance. i'm intrigued - it's a small "classical and christian school" according to the brochure lying here on the desk. from my understanding, pretty much the entire student body is involved in the production. the sounds coming through the door sound OK, though it seems a bit...slow? which could make for a long night. i'm impressed to see them doing this - many christian schools seem frightened by "secular" art and steer clear. but that does not seem to be the case here. i wonder if they have any connection to my friend amy's school up in dayton - some of what they're doing reminds me of what she talked about.

one of my friends asked me recently if i ever thought about teaching in a christian school and i suppose my initial reaction is i would, but i doubt they'd have me. for one, i'm pricey. secondly, i don't tend to blend well with most christian schools - at least the christian schools i am familiar with - both theologically and politically. i honestly haven't really sought out christian schools, but i suppose if the right circumstances opened up, i wouldn't automatically dismiss it. i do believe christian education has its place, but my experience with it at the high school level has seen more drawbacks than benefits.

so today i took a step that i've talked about for a while but never had the - courage? gumption? to actually act on. i told allen if the opportunity opened up, i would be happy to direct something. so it's out there at least and we'll see what happens. i've hesitated in the past because i respect allen and didn't want him to feel i was trying to encroach on his space. probably all in my head, but still. after i told him, we talked about the construction of the black box theater that's coming in over the next two years, which will allow mason to do even more productions. so who knows. just what i need, yet one more thing to fill my plate with. but it's something i love.

heading up tomorrow to the thurman cafe to meet brent and steve and then meeting possibly others to go visit jeremy's grave. he died a year ago march 29. i purposefully didn't blog about it at the time mostly because i'm not sure i've dealt with it. it seems so distant and unreal even now - it's almost like i have to remind myself he's actually gone and not just out of touch. which seems wrong. i shouldn't have to remind myself, right? i don't know. still. be my second trip up to oakwood (ah the delicious irony of the name). be good to be there with friends again.

after nearly five years of sporadic insomnia, i finally talked to my doctor and he agreed i should have a sleep study done. took a half day on wednesday to visit him and then was able to get in that afternoon to see the clinic and set up the study for next thursday night (we have a "teacher workday" because of the STUGO conference going on next weekend). figure i should see if there is something physical causing my sleeplessness before i look at the mental/lifestyle issues. one of those things you can't figure out living by yourself - i'm too asleep to know if i toss and turn or snore or stop breathing (though i have woken myself up moaning and/or screaming before, which is a bit disconcerting). here's hoping all goes well and i learn at least something.

along with the sleep study, next week is going to be just a bit odd. monday i'm out all day as we finalize how we're going to approach mockingbird. then i'll be in class tuesday and wednesday, then i took a personal day on thursday to give me a good four-day weekend. nothing like a two-day work week, right? of course, trying to figure out what to do with my classes while i'm gone is tricky. tuesday i've got and wednesday too, but monday and thursday are still up in the air. i know where we are in the book, but trying to figure out something my students can do while i'm gone. we'll see.

intermission. lots of people wearing all black running around behind me. i often wonder what they think of me, sitting here, typing away, or, sometimes, just surfing the web. probably something along the lines of "look at that lazy slob sitting there surfing the internet, listening to his ipod. must be nice."

and it is.

cryptic email today from TPTB of beauty and the beast. they had an unscheduled rehearsal wednesday night which i did not go to. it talked about all of the dance and vocal changes made to Gaston, Be Our Guest and the Mob scene. which seems...unlikely? i don't know. he mentioned a handful of names, which makes me wonder if perhaps they were the only ones there on wednesday for the rehearsal - which would suck, of course - and they're having a joke on those of us who didn't show up. i mean, i suppose they could have made changes, but why go through all that just to have to teach it again during our scheduled rehearsal. or maybe i'm just hoping it's a joke so i don't have to learn a bunch of new stuff on sunday. guess i'll find out.


interesting. i just went to the CMT website to get a link for the show and discovered my name is not listed among the ensemble. which lends creedence to my initial suspicion that i was a "late addition" to the cast. not that it matters now...well, not a lot anyway. small bruise to the ego perhaps. i've had far worse. and will have far more.


the fun thing about having all this downtime is i tend to ramble on and on and on and on in my blog post. congratulations for making it this far. feel free to grab a tasty beverage if you need to - i'll still be here typing away.

other things on my mind: been thinking some about what i might like to do with my summer. for the first time since i moved to cincy i have nothing planned - no shows, no schooling, no trips. i suppose i could use the time to fix up things around the house, but i fear that would turn into lots of lying around in my comfy chair or hammock doing nothing which, while appealing, could get old really fast. i've toyed with a couple of road trips - philly/new york, toronto, florida, colorado - but with gas pushing $4 a gallon, it's getting pricey to do that kind of thing. not completely ruled out, but does give me pause. also thought about checking airline flights, but not sure where i'd go. also thought that maybe this summer would be a good time to finally produce my adaptation of Life After God. but i'd need to figure out a schedule and i have no idea if the people i would like to have involved could. first step is probably just to do a call and do a reading of the thing, see who might be interested. not sure when i'd do that, though ideally it should be before the end of the school year.

i don't know. things to think about.

ok, enough of the rambling. i just reread the whole thing and i'm tempted to delete it for lack of any substance. of course, if you're reading this, it means i went ahead and posted it anyway. if all goes well, i should be out of here by 10:30. 11:00 at the latest. two long days in a row (parent teacher conferences and mason's Kiss Me Kate kept me here until almost 10:00 last night). at least i can sleep in tomorrow - don't have to be on the road until 11:00AM. now if i can just sleep through the night....

now playing: "When the foeman bares his steel"

utensils are stealing my ideas

lots going on, but the usually the only time i have to sit down and type up stuff is after a rehearsal and i'm a bit wiped after all that happens.

in case you were looking for excuses....

a snapshot of how things have been lately: saturday i found myself unable to go anywhere because friday night my garage door jammed six inches from the ground and would not close and when it tried to correct itself and go back up, my automatic opener ripped out of the door. and of course my car was in the garage, so i couldn't get it out. i finally unplugged the thing and using old-fashioned elbow grease, got the door back open. and so far i've been unsuccessful at finding anyone to help me, either with the door or with the opener. guess it's back to ye olden days of (gasp) manually opening my garage. joy.

friday was the third annual mason film festival. we doubled in size as far as films (eight this year) and had nearly five times the audience we've had in the past (over 50). sad moment: i was unable to show one of the submitted films because it did not meet the PG-13 criteria by dropping the f-bomb several times in the first couple of minutes. luckily i found it before i showed it. hated to cut it, but as a school sponsored event, i could not take the chance, especially with all that's been going on in the district lately. but even with that, the films submitted were wonderfully enjoyable. now if we can continue to build on this, i think we'll have something special in the coming years.

so tomorrow i'm only teaching half a day because i have a doctor's appointment. yes, after five years, i am (ooh, wait for it) officially (you know it's coming) tired of my insomnia (ah, i slay me). so i'm going to see if my doctor can recommend a sleep study so i can see if there's something physically wrong with me keeping me from getting a good night's sleep. here's hoping. i have a window of opportunity next week with the special teacher's work day that will allow me to take part. i suppose i could always go during the school week and be late to school, but i'd rather not have to worry about doing anything the next day, knowwhatimean?

heading up to columbus this weekend for our delayed trip to visit jeremy's grave. be good to go up there again. will get my thurman fix, which has been a long time coming. just wish i could stay up there longer - need to come back to cincy that night of our rescheduled MST3K party. so a busy, busy saturday. and if all goes well, i should have no grading to worry about. there's something new.

ok, think i'm going to try and get some sleep. last couple of nights i have been less than successful, unable to fall asleep, waking up exhausted in the middle of the night, only able to get out of bed by sheer force of will. now you see why i'm going to the doctor tomorrow. hope i get some good news.
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Now playing: Vigilantes Of Love - Baalam's Ass
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