TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE WAS PURE MAGICAL GOLD!  W had 15 reservations tonight and by the time we started our evening of mystery and mayhem, I’m sure we had at least 30.  Quite a switch from the nine we had last night.  I AM SO PSYCHED!  I know I mentioned that I was scared to death when this improv thing came up but after tonight, I am hooked.  Thanks in no small part to a larger than I anticipated table at the front of the murder scene.  One of my best friends decided to spread the word about the entertainment via a mass email that really worked!  I knew a couple of them were speculating about coming tomorrow but I am so glad that they came tonight along with a third visitor and then two more came along!  HEHEHEHE!!!!

While last night’s audience was very fun and we were able to play off of them really well… nothing beats interacting with a large crowd of VERY receptive participants.  There were moments of physicality that no one was anticipating that I found (as a performer) very exciting!  And it was all out of the blue!  That’s improv folks and I love it!  Never judge something until you’ve done it yourself?  I hope the video came off well enough to post highlights on youtube so I can share some of it!

There is something new already brewing for my return to the stage!  As with anything involving the stage, I am already pumped about it!  Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available!

Some different lyrics, different styles thrown in but the basic concept remains the same.

What do you think?

Of course, this in no way takes away from the tragedy of the luge competition which remains under investigation by Olympic officials.  Human error was pronounced initially, but upon reading the statement and seeing video much more should have been in place to allow for the athletes’ safety.

Tonight was the opening for the murder-mystery dinner theatre at the Quarterline Cafe.  It was really intimate because we had a grand total of 5 audience members! But it was really fun, the paying customers seemed to enjoy themselves as they played along and attempted to guess whodunit and why to win a fantastic prize.  Our overall effect had to change a bit and hopefully when we get more audience members, it can go back to our original plan!  But improv… what can you say?  If the paying public is entertained then it is all good!

I must give a shout out to the crashers who shall remain nameless.  They traipsed right on in. “Stella” went out to greet them, then they walked out.  I attempted to fit them into the plot by acknowledging the late comers and suggesting that they may be two more possible suspects.  It must have worked because after we wrapped, I told the cast who they were and everyone knew that I must have known them.  Apparently, they were making reservations to one of the remaining two performances.

So, while fun and intimate, a few more audience members would be helpful so that we can do some of the more physical bits we had been working on.  Call for reservations (419)485-0253!

After almost a week of having our new puppy, I finally got him to hold still long enough for some adorable pictures – enjoy!

I came across a couple of instances of good citizenship lately, so I thought I’d share.  I would write a  letter to the local newspaper, but I don’t think they’d print it – they didn’t print the last one I wrote them about the wonderful person who  found my lost wallet and turned it in to the police station – intact!  I guess the newspaper is only interested in printing letters where someone has an issue or is complaining about something…

So the other day, we were stopped at a stoplight, and it turned green – but the car in front of us was not moving, and that’s when I noticed that he had his hazard lights on.  The guy behind me was too close for me to back up, so I was stuck.  I saw the guy behind me throw his hands up in frustration, and I’m thinking, oh great, here comes the blaring horn and obscenities (I’m from Chicago – sadly, that is what most people there would do).  My husband gets out of our car to see if he can help push the stalled car, and off they go.  The next thing I know, there are two other men helping push it (they had been on the corner holding signs advertising a sale at the shopping center).  Then, the guy behind me – the one who I thought was p-o-ed – gets out of his car to see if he can help!!  What an amazing example of people being thoughtful and going above and beyond!  I’ve both lived in and visited plenty of cities where I saw (or I was) a stalled car.  But in all of these instances, never have I seen 4 people come out to help the stranded driver.  I’ve seen cars speeding angrily around the stalled vehicle, people honking, making obscene gestures, yelling obscenities, or simply ignoring the person in need.  I feel very lucky that I was able to witness such selflessness; people disregarding whatever their own plans may have been for that day – people willing to sacrifice being on time to their obligations just to help another in need.  How refreshing!

And something else happened this week – I’m sure you know about the big snowstorm by now.  We got about 8 inches of snow that came down in less than 12 hours.  I was sitting in my living room, watching it come down, and I was trying to shovel when I could – I couldn’t bear the thought of my husband having to come home from work with a walkway full of 8 inches of snow to  shovel.  But I have 4 little kids, and we had just gotten a new puppy, so my efforts to shovel away the snow as it fell were in vain – I just couldn’t keep up.  So I’m playing with my kids in the living room, watching the snow fall, when we see someone clearing our walkway for us with a snowblower!  I thought that it must be a neighbor; someone who has a snowblower and was kind enough to take pity on those of us who only have shovels.  I told the kids to watch the man and see which house he went into so I could later drop off a thank you note.  But instead of walking into a house, he packed up his snowblower in a red truck  and drove away!  I didn’t recognize the man nor his truck, but I don’t think he was just roaming town snowblowing everywhere he went – he purposefully cleared our walkway!  I doubt he reads my blog, but if he does, then I’d like to tell him a big THANK YOU!  And for the rest of you – never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed!  I have a wall hanging with that saying on it in my bathroom, and it means even more to me now!

Prior to viewing Sherlock Holmes amongst all the needless ads, I did see a trailer for a movie that is definitely high on my list for viewing.  Although NOTHING can take away the comedic genius which he brings to his portrayal of Michael Scott, Steve Carrel has made some great movies as well.  Some of my favorites: Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty (I actually enjoyed it more than its predecessor, Bruce Almighty), and the updated Get Smart.  This spring, he will be paired with his female counterpart, Tina Fey in the new movie Date Night.  Sure to be a hilarious movie coming April 9.

I hope that I am not stepping on too many toes by posting on a show that some readers have not sen so I will try not to give too much away.  WCCT opened its 2010 season in high form with the hysterically touching comedy Dearly Departed.  Every redneck stereotype (southern Baptist… correct?… ministers, beer bellied loafers, etc) you can imagine is put on huge display.  It was almost a lost episode of Mama’s Family.  In fact, Deb’s performance as the family matriarch made me flashback to Vicki Lawrence herself.  An extended group of hicks gather to say their farewells to its beloved(?) head of the family.

As with any family centered piece, the dirty laundry is aired and there is a lot to share!  It is so much fun to sit back and watch friends on stage create such lively characters.  Fellow tangenteer, justj positively stole the show in not one but two outstanding roles.

So… if you haven’t already, be sure to catch one of the remaining performances of the premiere show of the season.

Can it be?  There does seem to be an end to the winter.  After the last two days of up to 10″ of snow, I got a cheery email ad.  MLB pitchers and catchers are to report on February 17 (THAT IS ONE WEEK FROM TODAY FOLKS!).  Full team squad report on the 23rd.  Spring training game one for the Bombers is March 3rd against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In unrelated sporting news… can you believe that their is a lack of snow at the site for the Olympic Games.  Snow had to be transported to Canada for the start of the games on Friday.  Seems inconceivable with the storms that have ravaged the East coast in New York, D.C. has had multiple storms measured in feet instead of inches.  I’m sure most of us would gladly relinquish some of the white stuff to our neighbors to the north.

Whenever I have had a subbing day this year it has almost always been a result of getting up early and hitting the web. Last night I was able to secure a job in 6th grade a little after 10 which didn’t have a start time until almost 8:30, meaning I could sleep in, at least a little bit. Okay, knowing about the snow meant I should be up about 20 minutes earlier to get shoveling out of the way. Still, I could get up about an hour later than usual. Of course you know something was bound to happen, and happen it did at about 4AM. That’s when I was jarred out of my sleep by what I thought then was the neighbors slamming the door. It took me about a half hour to get back to sleep. I was worried because it didn’t sound like a door slamming, but what else could it be.  Well, eventually I did get up at about 6:45 and didn’t worry about it all day.  Unfortunately it wasn’t quite early enough as there was more snow than I would have hoped waiting to be shoveled, making me a little bit late.  At least I still arrived before the kids.

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Yesterday I subbed for music at one of hometown district’s middle schools- I actually got a call for it about five minutes before the alarm was set to go off.  Very uneventful.  We watched videos in all classes.  At least I got to see Blue Man Group, a group I had never heard before though I of course knew about them.  Other class videos included Stomp and The Wizard of Oz.  Today I was excited because I was subbing in an elementary school, and what that usually means is getting to teach instead of just babysit.  Well, not so much.  The plans didn’t include videos, but they did include a test, lots of reading and working on their own, and skit performances for social studies, in which they are studying Greek Mythology- a topic I really enjoyed myself when I was in 6th grade.  Well, there was a spelling game too, and at least that was interactive.  I also worked in a short math review not on the plans before they started working on their assignment, and at least one other subject, vocabulary, was more interactive as well.  Additionally, I worked in some word puzzles which I like to do in elementary classes.  Definitely a more productive day for me than yesterday, overall.

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So back to what woke me up.  On one of the forums I read someone who I know lives around here made a post humorously telling California to keep the earthquakes to themselves.  Say what?  I read his post then had to go to my newspaper website to see just what he was talking about.  Sure enough, there was a 3.5 magnitude earthquake a short distance from us.  An earthquake.  In Illinois.  At 3:59AM.  That’s right, not a slamming door.  Well, I guess if our tornadoes can be exported to other areas, I shouldn’t be surprised when earthquakes are imported to our relatively-geologically-stable part of the country.  Here’s a link to the story (click the title), and a short excerpt:

Small earthquake wakes up northern Illinois

To some, it sounded like a train derailing, a snowplow taking out a car, a plane crash, a sonic boom.

To dogs, it was clearly something to panic about.

But the U.S. Geological Survey said what woke people well before dawn Wednesday was a mild, 3.8 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was about three miles beneath a farm field a short distance south of Pingree Grove, near Route 20 and Switzer Road in western Kane County.

It started rumbling at 3:59 a.m. Wednesday and lasted just seven seconds.

I’m not really hip with pop culture these days.  Sure, I read my share of celebrity gossip whenever it happens upon cnn.com, but I’m really out of it when it comes to the latest tv shows and music.  I am such a nerd that I had to wikipedia ‘Jersey Shore’ because I got sick of reading all these headlines about it and not knowing what the heck they were talking about.  Sounds like kind of a dumb show, by the way, not for me.

Because I listen to country music, mainstream music is usually of no interest to me.  But I couldn’t help but take notice when a snappy tune came out of the tv this morning – it was Sesame Street, and there was a musical guest.  I know that Sesame Street has celebrity guest-stars all the time, so I chose what seemed to be the title of the song and did a search on youtube.com.  The song is “I’m Yours”, and it’s sung by Jason Mraz.  Even all my reading of celebrity gossip didn’t help me here – I’ve never heard of Jason Mraz, but I have to say that I like his sound.  But that shouldn’t really come as a surprise that I’ve never heard of him – I don’t think he’s a regular in my pop culture circle that includes such characters as Dora, Miss Spider, Little Bear, or Wow Wow Wubbzy.  My 18-month-old son and I couldn’t help but bounce and groove to this song; see if you feel the same.  By the way, when Mr. Mraz performed this song on Sesame Street, the lyrics were changed to make the song be about playing outside, making it more kid-friendly.  Cute.