Goodwill has not opened officially yet, but they have gotten us back to work and hired seven new people. At the moment, I am putting clothes onto racks while everyone else is filling up racks and sorting clothes. Working full-time is a different experience and after working just one week at full0time, I am not used to it. My legs have finally stopped hurting after work, but my feet still hurt after only a couple of hours walking around. I have gotten very lazy around the house right now, since standing on my feet after work is very difficult to stand in front of the sink for about 15 minutes. By the time I am finally used to the full-time, eight hours on my feet, I will be back to my cashier position with only a couple of days a week and even less hours a day. 🙁 I was supposed to be either working in the back as a full-time sorter or going through the housewares, but that for some reason didn’t work out. Then I was going to be a head cashier, but that didn’t pull through either. I am not sure why, since Sarah, the manager, said to everyone who had be hired back that we would get first pick because we had waited so long to be back to work. Obviously, that did not happen for me and I am still a cashier. I  am full-time at the moment, up until the store opens, and then my hours will be cut.

Because of all the bills Tony and I have building up, I will have to find something else to do as well. Tony’s hours are being cut at KFC because they are not staying open as late and we keep having bills added to our already long list of bills. Next month, we have to add the electric bill to out list and then probably shortly after that, we will start paying rent for the house. We are staying at his parents’ old house and thankfully, they weren’t making us pay anything because I was not getting a lot of hours at work. Then, when Sarah and Sue went to work at the new store, I started getting more hours at the outlet store, so we had to get the gas in our name and start paying that. Once again, things changed for the worse, Sarah and Sue had to stop working at the new store because things became a standstill, so they came back to work and my hours were once again cut. We are hoping that things will change, that we can find jobs, either a second job or one that is full-time that will help us through this tough time. We are willing to stretch our food, just to make sure our cat and frog will be comfortable and have enough food. Our animals are so important to us and we want them to be happy. 🙂

Since I am a Tiger fan, I do tend to like the Tiger announcers, but since they did not make the playoffs 🙁 , I am listening to other announcers. So far, I’ve heard the Yankee announcers during the season. The lady they have (sorry I don’t recall her name) seems to really know her baseball. The Red Sox and Angels announcers are gung ho for their team (as expected) but seemed to do their homework on the other team. I feel this is very important. It bugs me when the announcer can’t pronounce the other team’s players.

I hope to hear the NL announcers before this round of the playoffs ends. But that will depend on my schedule and when I can get to a computer or radio that gets local stations.

I’m thinking the AL will come down to the Angels and the Yankees. I’ve been against the Yankees since I knew about baseball, so I really can’t root for them. (Sorry J…) I do think they will go to the World Series, my likes and dislikes won’t change that at all. They have a better set of pitchers and they can out hit any team on any night.

I’m not sure about the National League teams, since I didn’t pay as much attention to them. I would like the Dodgers to get to the Series, but I’m not sure which team has the best chance. Prior bias on my part hopes the Cardinals don’t get in (they beat Detroit in 2006). While it looks good for the Dodgers, I just just don’t know. As far as the Phillies and Diamondbacks, to me that is a coin toss.

Fearless prediction

Yankees, Dodgers in the Series. Yankees win it 6 games. Arrgh!!! I hate saying that….

Tonight was opening night for You Have the Right to Remain Dead and what an opening  it was.   For a Friday night during football season with many homecoming games going on, I thought the crowd was a decent size and it is very difficult to fill every seat in the venue.  I still cannot say enough how gorgeous and amazing it is to be on the jewel of a stage.  Both times I have been in shows at the Huber I have been spoiled.

I thought that among the best moments were some of the sound effects.  There are many great effects that heighten the atmosphere of the show and tonight we had the heater going.  Not to worry, because I was for a bit.  Everyone I talked to in the audience thought the noise was part of the show… including a few friends who had a great time playing “whodunit.”  The entire audience seemed to get into the participation act but it could have started a bit sooner.  And we were promised that the noise from the heater would be addressed.

Following the show while shedding my costume and persona of Harnell Chesterton, I learned that one of my castmates is a Red Sox fan (I won’t hold that against him).  My Yankee coat was hanging on a hangar and Alex noticed it and we each offered our condolences to each other.  By the way, the Bombers are up 2-0 in the ALDS after beating the Twins 4-3 in 11 innings.

And I think I have made a new friend who has found out about my sterling personality.  the director warned me to watch myself or she would find something to throw at me during the show.  What is it that I do… honestly?

I think I have found a new favorite show that will be really hard to leave when Sunday’s matinee is over.  I think this will be number 3 replacing Rooster and right behind Donnie and “you-know-who.”

Lets see… 14 hours 52 minutes to go….and counting.

Recently I purchased a pedometer. According to a large amount of literature, a person should try to walk 10,000 steps per day to stay healthy. That is roughly 5 miles per day. Now I thought I walked a lot every day, but apparently I’m not reaching my 10,000 steps.

If I attach the pedometer first thing in the morning, I will have 300+ steps by the time I reach my desk at work. I could try to add to that by parking farther from the door, but our parking lot is only so big. By going to get coffee, or walking to someones desk instead of e-mailing or using the phone, I can have 1,000+ steps by lunch time. That will give me around 3,000 steps when I head to my car in the evening. Only 7,000 steps to go….

I’ve been walking at lunch for about 20-30 minutes and that adds about 2,000 to 2,500 steps to my daily count. So only 4,500 steps left. On most days, this is almost all the steps that get counted. Even roaming through the Walmart store, or other shopping that I do, only add about 1,000 steps. Making dinner, catching up with the things I have to do at home maybe 1,000 more. So I’ve usually been 2,000+ steps shy of 10,000 every evening. I guess I could do less internet surfing and reading during the evening hours, but that is how I relax after the day. I’m not big on doing the exercise bit, never have been, and even though I know it would be good for me, I resist. I guess I will have to see how many steps I get when I do things like cut wood this winter. I always thought that was good exercise when I did it, but I never knew how much I walked to get the wood back to the house. I will find out soon enough….

Today there are no worries about getting my 10,000 steps in. I almost accomplished that at work today. In our work move, some of the extra furniture was stored in two meeting rooms. Today was the day to get 1 of those rooms in order. So, by moving stuff from one place to another I managed to hit 7,000 steps by 12:00 pm today. With all of the other walking I did, I only have 500 to hit the magic 10,000 mark. And since I’m in a play, I guess I will be adding some daily pacing to my other walking activities.

Oh well, I need to be off to pick up my youngest. A few more steps out to the truck…

No, not McDonald’s but the feeling this day always brings.  Not sleeping much the night before (I think I finally got down about 3 this morning and slept until about 9).  I watched Superman: The Movie to further unwind.  I got up totally rested, totally excited, read my pal’s blog post sending wishes to Travis, Mary, and I in our respective shows.  Break a leg guys!  I don’t know even how to describe the feeling or if everyone gets the same as a show opening approaches, but it is TREMENDOUS! Giddy as a school boy (to coin a phrase) kind of feeling with a bit of the butterflies which is no more than the adrenaline and excitement building until that moment when the curtain rises and you have an audience looking up at you.  So… in the next 5 hours and 52 minutes I will TRY to relax just a little, look over my lines a bit (as I always do) get to the theatre (maybe even before the director, herself), NO makeup (!!!!).  WOO HOO!

I have several friends and fellow tangent-heads opening in shows tonight.  Jamy, Mary, Travis, and others are in two productions – one in Bryan and one in Hicksville.  BREAK A LEG GUYS!  I hope you have a great time and that the audience give you a wonderful response.

A few months ago, a fellow tangenteer posted about the upcoming continuation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, a musical that first hit the London stage 23 years ago… today on October 9, 1986…WOW!  Since then, it has been translated into 15 languages, seen in over 25 different countries by over 100 million people, and has won over 50 major theatrical awards worldwide… we will just mention the movie version in passing.  Yesterday, the Lord held a press conference in which he announced (once again) that Love Never Dies will be given its West End premiere on March 9, 2010 and in New York in November 2010.  What happened to the triple opening New Year’s Eve gala of 2009?  He began working on a story 15 years ago coming up short.  I guess it takes years to come up with a show when you haven’t produced anything even remotely original and successful (did anyone see Woman in White?  I didn’t either and apparently no one else did either).

From what I gather the plot will find the characters (Raoul, Christine, and the Phantom, himself) at Coney Island ten years following the events in Phantom.  The Phantom has traveled to America and is billed as the top draw at the amusement park while still pining for his true love.  Christine accepts the invitation of an impressario to perform in the States.  Not much there.  Time will tell if love will never die or if it will be buried like all of the most recent Lloyd Webber works.

But you can check out the press release, listen to the overture of the new show, as well as a new Phantom song (“Til I Hear You Sing”…it’s no “Music of the Night”) by visiting the official website.  I wonder… if a show has an official site, does this mean that it is going to be produced or is it just another red herring?

P.S.  If any of my readers are in or around the London area or plan to visit, there is already a site which is offering travel packages for the show.  Maybe that is another sure sign.

If you’re wondering why my blog post title sounds familiar, look no further than this – a blog post I wrote about the same subject almost 13 months ago, the original Why I Loathe Fundraisers.  Consider this part two of an ongoing, once-a-year series, I guess.  And the inspiration for part two?  Again, my oldest daughter brought home a school fund-raising catalog, except there were two differences this year:  1)  they seem to have waited longer than the second day of school to hand it out.  I don’t recall exactly when it was given out, but I think it was a little later this year, so that’s good.  2)  I did not go out and ask everyone I know about ordering stuff this year.  I sent an email to the closest family asking if they wanted to order, and then our family decided to order a little something this year – I do want to be supportive of the school.

Let me back up a little bit.  If you’ve read part I of my Loathing Series, then you know that I treated myself to a subscription of US News and World Report, which I can now say turned out to be a bust.  First, the magazine comes at odd times (and it’s STILL coming!) – it came weekly for a few weeks, then I forgot about it cuz it didn’t come for a month or more, then it started coming every few weeks…  I gave up trying to figure out the pattern.  Especially because after 3 or 4 issues, I realized that this is not the magazine for me.  I thought it would be about current events, but it turns out that US News and World Report chooses the most boring news topics to write about – especially politics.  I am a current events / news junkie, but when it comes to politics, it’s difficult for even  breaking news to catch my attention.  During the whole Bush-Gore undecided election story of 2000, throughout the counting of votes, the analyzing of dangling chads, missing chads, dimpled chads, and the entire chad movement, my husband was glued to the news while I could barely force myself to take notice.  So  anyway, after realizing that I was not a fan of this magazine (anyone want me to save you some US News and World Reports?  I won’t think you’re boring, honest!), I realized that I had gotten a magazine appetite whet.  So, for my daughter’s fundraiser this year, we decided to try People magazine for me.  I’ve always enjoyed People; I used to buy it before long flights (back when I used to fly), and sometimes friends and relatives give me their old issues to peruse.  So the other day, we received our fundraiser order in the mail.  Well, this was a nice change of pace –  apparently the days are over of spending an hour on a Saturday in a crowded gym picking up fundraiser orders – thanks to the internet.  Instead of an issue of People for me, there was a voucher in the box.  I just had to choose my magazine (thought I already chose?) and send it in.  Tangent for a minor complaint – if you don’t have internet, you’d have to pay an additional $.44 to send in your voucher without the company even warning you first!  Would it really be that difficult to make it postage paid, I mean, come on!  And now for the major complaint – People magazine was not on the list of choices!  Sure, I could have a subscription to People En Español (my Spanish isn’t THAT good!) or People Style Watch, but I am so not into style AT ALL!  I could not care less.  I barely care about the celebrity gossip in People; I ‘m mostly entertained by their inspirational stories of every day heroes or just quirky things (they once had an article about a lady who turned an airplane into a house for her to live in!  Now that is some cool news and worthy of my leisure time), so what the heck would I want with People Stlye Watch?  Yech.  I feel like they tried to scam me.  I wish I had kept that catalog!  Well, I emailed the company, so hopefully they’ll fix the problem.  If not, stay tuned for Why I Loathe Fundraisers – Part 3!

Yes, tonight was the final dress rehearsal for You Have the Right to Remain Dead.  We had a few snags but nothing that will prevent us from having an AWESOME opening night tomorrow.  We were instructed to come home, get a good night’s sleep, relax tomorrow (glad I have the day off), and look over our lines.  Very sound advice from a first time director who has done a sensational job!  I love directors who just let the actors do their thing and offer critiques when they are needed AFTER the rehearsal is completed.  Just another fantastic experience!

NOW my little pitch: to all of you readers who are planning to attend Little Shop of Horrors PLEASE do so.  My request is this: the show I am in runs THIS WEEKEND ONLY (four shows, one Friday, two Saturday shows, and one Sunday matinee).  Little Shop has a total of 7 performances over two weekends (one of which I WILL BE attending… three good friends in the cast notwithstanding).  So you have ample opportunity to enjoy both because they are both excellent shows.  Ok.. plug over.

After tonight’s rehearsal, I came home and watched an EXCELLENT movie.  I can only say this without giving away the whole movie because there is sooooo much to tell.  Inside Man in a nutshell features a powerhouse cast of two Academy Award winners (Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster) plus the talented Clive Owen and Christopher Plummer.  Of the plot, I will say that it concerns the perfect bank heist.  Never boring and has many layers and intricacies.  I find that cooling down from the excitement of the evening before a show opens is best spent indulging in not so ordinary things.  I will watch the shows I have DVRed(?) at a later date.

Once again, I have had the pleasure of working with new cast members (I have now worked with TWO  Heffelfinger guys) and once again ventured out into another fantastic venue!  Thanks everyone.

PRICE WARS!!!

It appears that major toy resellers are trying very hard to get your holiday dollars. With hard economic times, we all need a break or two, so this could be a benefit to those out shopping for children they know.

According to the article Toys-R-Us is going to open mini shops just in time for Christmas. These may or may not have good deals, but they will give some out of work people short term jobs for the holidays.

Wal-Mart has a $10 toy sale, so that again may or may not be a good deal. It all depends on the toy.

I heard that Target was having some Christmas event with the Toy department too, but I have not found any news story online to back it up.

Or you could do what I plan on doing… Dig a hole in your backyard and hide until the Christmas shopping season is over… 😉 Oops, I can’t do that, I’m in a play. Oh yeah, that is like hiding until something is over. I won’t have time for anything else.