Break a Leg

So, you know that part in Return of the Jedi where Lando flies the Falcon into the heart of the Deathstar to blow up the core and then try to make it out again before the whole thing goes kafooey, meanwhile there are TIE Fighters swarming all over him making it harder to escape and his wingmen keep getting torched?  I kinda feel like that.

When I bought my new car earlier this year, it kinda complicated my financial situation to the point where I actually have to, you know, pay attention to it.  Like rent.  I have two roommates.  Usually how it works that I send a check for the full amount to the landlord and then my roommates pay me there share, which is fine and usually works, except that one of my roommates usually doesn't get the check to my until a week or two after it's due because we literally don't see each other for weeks at a time.  But that's fine, it all comes out in the wash.  Otherwise, I just need to be a bit more frugal with my money, eat at home more often, drink cheaper beer, and avoid unnecessary expenditures like the $330 speeding ticket I just had to pay...good times.  And then, in 2 weeks I'm going to Great Western War, which is no small expenditure.  On the positive side, I have money from the shows I've been doing all summer supplementing the bank roll, or at least what is left out of that money after paying for the gas required to commute 40 miles twice a day 4 times a week...sigh.

It's doable.  It's just more to have to think about than I really want to.  Kids, being a grown-up sucks.  Avoid it if at all possible.

Speaking of just one more thing to think about: this has been a pretty busy year, and it is by no means of the imagination over.  As I mentioned I'm going to War in a couple weeks.  I'm also starting rehearsal for new 2 shows: The Nutcracker (like I do every year) and Piccaso at the Lapin Agile.  The Nutcracker is in Marin; Piccaso is in Napa.  I've managed to work out the conflicts (I hope), but there are going to be a couple days or so that will be a close run thing.

Can I safely pilot away before the whole thing blows?  I guess the only thing I can do is punch the engine, do a couple barrel rolls, and hope.

In other news, All The Great Books (Abridged) closed for the second time this last weekend.  That means that my summer is now officially over.  It was a pretty fun ride.  This show was the first time that I had done a show for several months, then set it aside and did a completely different show, the returned to the first show in a completely different place.  It was kinda neat to be able to do the same thing two different ways.   There have been a couple shows in the past where we have done special performances done in special places, but those were usually just one-shots and a pretty simplified version of the original.  The Books (Abridged) Redux was, if anything, more technically difficult because we were in a bigger space and had to completely rearrange how things ran.  If you've ever seen any of the Reduced Shakespeare Company shows, you know that they are extremely fast paced with lots of entrances and exits and a metric crap ton of props.  When you have to make an exit, change out of one costume piece into another and then grab a prop and get back on stage in the course of about 10 seconds, you need to know exactly where you need to go and what to do when you get there.  Because the space at The Rep (first run) is so much different than at Napa Valley College (second run), brilliant moves that we had worked out and had been running for months were now the dumbest choice possible.  There were a couple times when we slammed each other pretty hard when we were both going for the same entrance coming from opposite directions and going full speed.  Still, a LOT of fun.  The other guys and I are already doing other shows, all going off in different directions for a while.  But we'd all do it again in a heart beat...just give us a minute to catch our breath.

Happy Jenday