Still Being Thankful

Hello dear readers. I hope this finds you all returning back to your normal lives from a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving weekend. I have been pondering Thankgiving a lot as I sit here in my empty apartment on this cold rainy morning surrounded by umpteen empty tea cups, 2 boxes of Kleenex, and Noname the Giraffe that Emily left behind to keep me company while she was in San Francisco this weekend. So, I decided to pop my favorite Christmas movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol into the VCR (that's right, it's old school) and do a little blogging for the things I am thankful for in my life.

*An aside before I start my list. I began to ready myself for blogging, you know, tea making, toast buttering, video cassette searching. And I found The Muppet's Christmas Carol right where I left it, at the bottom of the massive Ikea bag I dragged over to Kelly's for Thanksgiving dinner. I arranged everything in my room, popped open another box of Kleenex and some more Tylenol SEVERE Cold and stood up to push play (alas, my tv remote is broken). And imagine my surprise to find Return to Me. Seriosuly, who still owns TWO movies on VHS? Anyone? Now, I love Return to Me more than anything, but that isn't the holiday Muppets musical I was looking for, so I went on a quest for the missing tape. I headed over to the drawer on the tv stand that holds all our DVDs and dug through until I found it. Inside the case for When Harry Met Sally. Now, where When Harry Met Sally is, I have no idea, but I have that on DVD now, so I don't care. Anyway-- now that you know that my movie viewing habits obviously revolve around only three movies, let's get on with the list, shall we?

• I can order a Dominos pizza through my TiVo. Do you know how awesome that is? I don't know why I would ever need to do this, but the fact that I CAN makes me so happy. Thankfully, though my tv remote is broken, my TiVo remote is my best friend, and now that it can order Domino's while keping me chock full of 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother and random episodes of Dawson's Creek that it thinks I might like, well, I don't know what more to say than, I love you TiVo.
• I am thankful for online shopping. I didn't brave the tourist crowds here in NYC this weekend, but I did order some serious gifts online. Why doesn't everyone do this! I love it.
• Just a little shoutout for one of the stores I did some shopping at: The Container Store. I bought all my holiday wrapping supplies in one place and they are super cute! Plus, I saved shipping costs by telling them I'll pick it all up in the store on Thursday. No doubt part of their ploy to get me in the door to spend another $100, which I will do, and gladly, but it's all a brilliant thing anyway.
• I am very thankful to be employed. Let's face it, in this sucky time of shows posting closing notices seemingly everyday, I am beyond thankful to be working on a show with a steady paycheck. But more than that, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be working on THIS show. Rock of Ages has been such a great job. It has introduced me to to all sorts of wonderful people. Everyone involved in this show from our production crew to the box office staff to the 95 person marketing machine behind the show to the billions of actors to our kick ass producers (kick ass because they send us emails that say things like, "Thanks for being so kick ass.") has been so much fun and have really made this a great experience to me.
• But most importantly (worthy of their own bullet point) has been working with my management partners in crime. It has been so great working with this team. Nay, a team in general. It's amazing how much less stressful life can be when you have people to bounce stress off of. It's been a lot of fun, and now that 2/3 of my killer team are leaving, it's made me feel even more bittersweetly for how great it has been.
• Friends and family in general. Old friends, new friends, theatre friends, church friends, elementary school friends, husbands and wives of those friends, friends I don't talk to as much as I should but think about all the time, cousins that listen to me laugh and cry as I wander down this insane career path, a sister who brings me Cocas when I'm feeling down, a soon-to-be brother-in-law who knows just the right time to stop by with beer and Wii Tennis, a mom that knows that all I need in life to be happy are wine and cheese. I'm seriosuly thankful every day that I am lucky enough to be surrounded by an army of support.
• And, least I get too sentimental, I'm thankful for my Blackberry and it's happy little red light of communication. I love being attached to the world through it's little tiny screen.
• Finally, just a list in general of small things I'm thankful for: chai lattes, iTunes 1-touch purchasing, BlackBerry Messenger, new striped socks, binder clips, calendars that sync to each other, Facebook status updates, Apples to Apples, my MacBook Pro, Harry Connick, Jr., singing the harmony to anything, singing in general, good subway kharma, walking into craft stores thinking "I CAN DO THAT!", chips and salsa, air conditioners with remotes, and Skype.
  

And, I think that's all for this blog entry, as I'm now sitting at my office trying to wrap this up for my readers that harass me that I don't write enough. It's not that I don't want to, but I often feel that my entries need to be perfect, and I stress out over them for way longer than necessary. So, out to the void with this belated entry of thanks. I'd love to hear what your thankful lists are this year. Leave them in the comments!

Teching

So, my rocking show fully moves into the theatre today as we enter what is lovingly known in the industry as "hell week." My next 6 days will consist of paperwork in the office during the day, then to the theatre until 1am for hours of "is this light too blue? Shouldn't he be holding a beer, not a mixed drink? Are the sounds on the 4th beat of every word of the intro sharp enough?" All decisions which I couldn't make if you held a gun to my head (unless one of the questions happens to be, "for the love of God, can't SOMEONE get a marketing code around here!"), but I am finding this process amazing. It's helping me very much to see the collabrative nature of this field, and is another reminder of why I do what I do and love it so much.

Moving on from my dorky techy blogging, I sent out an email begging everyone on the planet to sign the petition to get [tos] on Ellen (you know, this petition), and I'm amazed at the response. Way to go friends and family. Extra bonus points if you actually clicked on the link to my blog. Welcome.

I'm off to shower and drag myself to work. Much love from Astoria!

Why isn't this MY reality tv?

Okay, I know that tv isn't real, but seriously, where is this man in my life? Can we discuss? I mean, I may have just watched four back-to-back episodes of The Office, every one in which I said outloud at least one, "Ahhh, I love him!!" Who's with me here?

In other, more realistic news (yawn), today I saw the Act 1 run through of ROCK OF AGES, and I can't lie, I loved it. It's gonna be a fun show people, have you bought your tickets yet? Starting Oct. 1, I'm always up for pre-show margaritas...

Also, I made a friend connection happen for my cousin Susan and my former co-worker Mary in Chicago. Sus lives just around the corner from the Briar Street Theatre, where Mary is serving as Business Manager for Blue Man Group-Chicago. I'm happy they are meeting, but so wish I could be there!! My social life of late has been reduced to hermitude. It is a choice I have concisously made, and I can't lie, I love it. I know that in three weeks, I head back to the late-night theatre world I've grown so accustomed to, but I have to say for now, I'm glad to have my evenings to myself. Have you been keeping an eye on the Nike meter on the right side of my page?! I've been keeping up with my running program, and although my farthest distance is only 2.15 miles, I'm feeling pretty good just getting out there and doing SOMETHING every night. It helps me unwind from the day, and I think I sleep better too. All good things.

I'm off to do some more organizing of my room. I mean, I've lived here over a year and nothing has really happened. Next year when I'm faced with living on my own, I'm very excited, but I'm also very nervous about putting everything together. Anyone have any ideas? Mostly, I'm planning on counting on my two interior designer cousins (that means you Sus and Maura). They both have amazing senses of style and I can't wait to see what they do to the place. :) Night all.

Sing, Sing a Song

Tonight found me up on the UWS singing my little heart out to the score of Carmina Burana. It was a lot of fun, even though I went in knowing only this part:



But really, for me, the fun is seeing how that many voices can blend together to create such an amazing sound. I know I'm late on jumping on the choral bandwagon, but seriously, there isn't much more that makes me happier.

Added bonus of hanging out with a good friend. Thanks for helping me scalp tickets outside Symphony Space this morning and for "Secreting" good ideas! It was such a good time! If only we didn't have to wait until next summer for more singing!

Life back at the office is a lot of fun. It's great being part of a team. Much more laughing and a lot less stressful nights make for a fun place to be. I know as we get closer to opening, it will be more stressful, of course, but I'm glad these past few days have helped build a great working relationship to get through that part.

I probably have more to say, but my browser is doing a weird lag thing and it's driving me crazy, so I'll close with an aside to my friend on the Pajama Game tour: Seriously, you've been gone since Sunday and there's been no blogging from you. I'm calling you out. Time to get writing, or my blog will totally win hands down in our cage match of blogs.

It's a nice thing!

I'm not sure how it happened, but somewhere down the line, I found the greatest friends here in NYC. I mean, I do have [title of show] to thank mostly, but seriously, I am a lucky girl.

So many thoughts!

I have had the wonderful fortune of having the best weekend ever. Leaving out that it has been a stiffling 95+ here in NYC this weekend, I couldn't ask for more.

To start with, my sister Emily, and her boyfriend Nick got engaged last night at the Empire State Building. Amazing. I have pretty much been crying since I knew it was happening. Tears of happiness of course. We all know I'm a crier, happy/sad, it doesn't matter. Just thinking about it makes me tear up. I'm so very, very, very happy for them!!! Em was completely surprised, and it was totally amazing! It's still a little surreal to me, so I can't imagine what the two of them must be thinking, but wow! I'm getting a brother-in-law. And a tenor, no less. At least I'll never be in need of someone to harmonize with, and let's face it, harmony is v important in my life.

Secondly this weekend, I was surrounded by a zillion great friends. It's just so nice to spend time with people who know you and love you for who you are. I know it sounds a little lame, but seriously, is there anything better in the world than just laughing for hours on end of ridiculous things? I love that despite my random theatrical schedule, that my life still contains such fun times at Blockheads or at the social after Mass. (Go ahead and knock it, but they serve wine and mini-hotdogs, and it's a FANTASTIC way for me to catch up with my choral friends. :) )

Ok, I'm heading to bed now before a well-deserved day-off. We're opening the balcony at reasons to be pretty this weekend because we're doing so well! Holla! It's amazing news for a well-deserved play, but I've been doing house seat orders in my sleep, so I'm looking forward to a day off.

Peace out y'all!

Where God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window...

Well, not even the pinkest, sparkliest, most magical wish can trump the unfairness that is the "office loyalty" card. Person #2 is walking away with my so coveted ACM position on the Legally Blonde tour. I can't really fault anyone here, except the stupid theatrical hierarchy, but someday it will work in my favor, so I'm finding it hard to even fault that. The CM called today, and was very lovely and diplomatic about the whole thing, saying that we were really neck-and-neck, and the only thing stopping them from choosing me is my lack of experience in that particular office. He said that everything about me was great and perfect, and I needn't change anything, and that he would send my resume around with his highest recommendation. So, see, I can't even pinpoint my sadness on him. He was really very nice. In my theatrically-inclined mind, I've decided that he wanted to hire me, and that the powers-that-be chose otherwise. It'll help me get through it anyway.

Anyway, so thankfully, I was surrounded by wonderfully supportive people to get me through, so to those people, I say thank you for the drink invitations, for telling me I was too good for that tour anyway, for promising me that not getting that job meant Broadway was waiting for me, and for just being there to say it sucks, but that I will no doubt come out on top, thank you. For your favorite Pisces girl, this day has been ridiculously tear-free. Amazing.

Oh Universe. Your constant need to be in balance is so obnoxious sometimes.

You know that feeling you get when everything is going freaking amazingly and all your friends are happy and life is good and birds are singing and the sky is blue etc, but then God and the universe are like, "Um, nope, not that happy" and slams you with an slap back to reality?  That happened to me today.

For the sake of not sharing all my friend's lives for the world to see, I shall change their names to characters from Thoroughly Modern Millie.  That way if my friends aren't ready to share their stories, they don't have to, and I get to hum songs from Millie throughout my typing this part of the blog.  Win-win.

So anyway, last night, I got a call from "Millie" that she was engaged!  Words can't describe how excited I am!!  Her finance "Jimmy" was very nice to spare her for the 30 minutes it took for us to adequately squeal and laugh and cry and reminisce.  Needless to say, I was completely floored, and my friend is happier than I've ever seen her, and for that I am overwhelmingly excited for the two of them.  Once the story is told, and her Facebook profile is updated, I shall share that story because it's awesome.

Then, another friend of mine this morning "Trevor Graydon" informs me that he has been cast in a kick-ass musical in a starring role.  Totally amazing!  I am so happy for him!  He deserves all the success that is coming his way, for he is truly one of the most talented people I've had the pleasure of meeting since starting my New York adventures.  More to come on this later as well. 

Anyway, I had brunch with Em and Nick this morning (no need to hide those names, right?), and afterwards I was on Cloud 9.  Seriously, walking on air.  Completely thinking that the universe had some amazing positive fancy energy out there, I was looking forward to becoming a part of that.  I was humming along just thinking about my good friends' great fortunes.  And just being happy.  I know I've said that a lot, but I really was.  

Anyway, I called my mom to talk about a great meeting I had on Saturday afternoon (another reason I was happy!) and she interrupted my gushing to tell me, "I'm really sorry to have to bring you down from this, but Katherine's father passed away unexpectedly this morning."  (Katherine is my cousin Mark's fiancée, and they are getting married in August.)  I know a lot of people would read the paragraphs above this and say, "well, naturally something bad was bound to happen!" but that's not really how I roll.  I'm not a person who holds back very much emotionally speaking, so when my spirits are high, I'm literally flying; and therefore, when the bottom drops out, I'm completely crushed.  I was literally walking up 2nd Avenue practically skipping at the start of the phone call with my mom, and within seconds of hearing the news, I was crying and heartbroken.  For the next few hours, every time I would think of Katherine having to prepare for her wedding without her dad, I would dissolve into a crying mess.  At Barnes and Noble, at Starbucks, at work.  I'm sure on a deeper level it's because when my wedding comes, I won't have my dad around, and that sucks and all that jazz, but on the surface, I think that I just find myself Quantum Leaping* into people's emotions.  I suppose life would be a lot easier if I could distance myself even a little bit, but then I guess I wouldn't be the person I am now.  So, I guess I'll just try to keep my personal emotional roller coaster on the track and realize that without the high highs and the low lows, life would just be a series of that really flat part of the roller coaster when the ride is over and you're just coasting back to the start.  Look at me and my metaphor skills.  

I suppose I'll end this somber post for the night.  In the end, I suppose I don't really mind the intense feelings my little Pisces mind conjures up.  I am genuinely thrilled to be able to share in my friends' exciting adventures and accomplishments when they are overjoyed.  And, though usually, it's not an easy thing to do, sharing the tears and disappointments matters just as much.  Maybe more?  I guess it's just my way of trying to reach my own equilibrium with the universe.

*Disclaimer: I never actually watched Quantum Leap because it came on at the same time as Lois and Clark.  And I think we all know which show won my loyalty...

Ease on down, ease on down the road

A friend of mine is dealing with the difficult illness of a parent as I type this. If she’s reading this, I’m pretty sure she’d want me to be my normal hysterical self, and to that I say, no worries, because I’m nothing but irreverent when necessary, but oh, my friend, you do have a rough road ahead of you. I know you will resurface on the other side stronger and having discovered things about yourself and your spirit that you didn’t know lived within you. And if nothing else, a collection of shot glasses, should you heed my mother’s advice. I love you a lot, and I sincerely wish I could be there to help you through, but until then, this blog shout out will have to suffice.

I suppose that has me thinking about when I lost my dad. It’s still a pretty surreal experience, losing a parent. I know there are a lot of things in my life I probably wouldn’t have tried if I hadn’t adopted a sort of “Rent”-esque “No day but today” attitude following that event in my life. So, though, I don’t define myself by the fact that I lost my dad at age 20, it surely shaped the person I’ve become. It’s in those sort of moments that you have to believe there’s a greater power than yourself making sure you’re guided to your place in the world. I mean, seriously, without the journey I’ve taken, who’d be sitting here with the Rat Pack? Surely not someone as fantastic(k) as me.

Thus ends the serious, thought provoking part of my entry. I now return to my aimless ramblings that you all know and love. Do you like how I address my “audience” in my blog? I like to think that as you read that last line, you’re all sitting there nodding your head thinking, “Ah, yes. I do know and love that about Susan.” And I gather a lot of comfort thinking of you, dear reader, sitting in Arlington or Astoria or San Diego or Chicago (look at my nationwide appeal!) drinking your Starbucks (which also happens to remind you of me) and being thoroughly entertained. It’s a brilliant thought to me here on this chilly Coventry night, when I should be packing, but am instead writing a truly self-serving blog. Good thing I wrote all that serious stuff above, so that you all don’t think my blog reading audience of about 7 has made my head too big. But then again, it’s 3:28am on the morning of my 29th birthday, so I think I can write just about whatever I want. Also, because you know I still have about 40 pounds of luggage to pack and then figure out how logistically possible it will be to get on two trains, two taxis, one subway, and I’m sure at least 8 flights of narrow stairs to my next destination in Tonbridge without throwing out my back or being deported for cursing the British too loudly. This life is ridic.

I like the fact that BBC thinks after The Wiz, which I did enjoy, they can just show screenshots of “Next Week’s Highlights” to disco music. I mean, and I really supposed to sit here and read through all of this stuff on tv? If I wanted to read, I would pick up one of the 47 books on my bedside table (see the 40 pounds of luggage comment above). I mean, that is some lazy programming Brits! I mean, would it kill you to put on a marathon of The Office? Or maybe The Wedding Planner or that movie with Matthew Perry and Selma Hayek that’s always playing on TBS? Seriously.

The countdown to Houston has commenced in full swing. I posted everyone’s flight details (well, everyone but me since I’m still totes undecided about my return date to the UK). And I keep reminding people about the weather there. And the rodeo. Ye-haw! I remember the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from back in the 80s, when for some reason, Dad would drag us all there to look at cows and whatever. Then we would head over to the Astrodome to watch whatever act was playing. I remember seeing Patti LaBelle and Alabama. Both of which my dad hated for being too loud. I’m not sure what would have made him happy, but I imagine the canon blasts at the end of the 1812 Overture would have been just about right, volume wise that is.

This entry doesn’t really have a lot to do with my trip, so I suppose I should write something down about it. Coventry was a city destroyed during WWII, and I don’t think it’s ever quite recovered. I did mange to get out on Tuesday and see Warwick Castle, which escaped the bombing, and the dragons, apparently, and is one of the best kept castles in the UK. As well it should be by the like $35 I paid to get in. Yikes. It was very pretty though. I took some lovely photos, which naturally you can find here... Besides that, I didn’t get out much, as I spent the better part of my week chasing down 2 weeks worth of petty cash. Oh platinum Amex card how I miss you and your magical problem-solving ways. We had a sold-out show tonight, which was nice, and then an uneventful load-out, which ended in the normal way of me racing to finish all my reports, and my crew leaving me behind to be nearly locked in the theatre for the third week in a row. Ugh. Whatever. It’s almost time to go to Houston. I love it.

Okay, I suppose I should quit writing this and go to bed/finish packing. Hope this finds all of you ready to celebrate my birthday. I’m sure it does.