Finster Finds

Usually I go to AM's for Oscars but since she is in Mexico doing her yoga I went to the basement with my Twizzlers and Cadbury mini-eggs and watched alone. I have only seen Juno of the 5 best picture nominees but I picked No Country For Old Men , due to the hype and what I had heard. It was a low-key year for movies. I still want to see No Country... and Atonement and I have heard Michael Clayton is really good. I imagine There will be Blood is good too. They shall all have to wait until DVD release. Such is my life. I will make a better effort next year and I also hope that some movies from the first half of the year get nominated so it will give me more time.

I avoided eye-contact and all other contact with the other Mom when picking Oliver up from drama class today. He reported a "good class" and all is well. I tried to arrive as close to pick-up time so as to minimize possible interaction. My house is a mess. A real big mess. Despite my efforts yesterday, it is a big job. I can just imagine what it will look like when I return from Toronto next Sunday night. I plan to keep my eyes closed until Monday morning. I did tidy up the kitchen a bit and the front entryway was tidied up yesterday but every use serves to undo anything I do. My teeth hurt. I need to get to the dentist. I need to take Oliver too. I shall have that on my list for a March activity.

1. My New Theatre project now that Crimes is done - BABY - We had our first "real" rehearsal last night. We already had a read-thru about a month ago but 2 of the 6 leads were missing and at a read-thru you don't really do any concrete work. Last night we started working on the music. I was pleased with the "reassignment" of the singing parts in The Ladies Singing Their Song . I look around the room and know that I am the only one of the chorus who looks remotely old enough to have had 10 children (my bit in the song now). I was also pleased because Magnolia and Becky are in the song too (yay!). I think it will be cool. For the 2 songs we worked on I was on the bottom. I figure I will be for the most part because there are a lot of Sops in this show and being a Mezzo will make me a likely choice for the bottom. He said it will change song to song, but I imagine I will be there most of the time. The sound was good. For a small cast we have a lot of tone and big...

Still fuming and it was hours ago... Today I took Oliver to Drama class. We have had some issues with Oliver in class because he has a "hugging" and "touching" problem. Oliver is a bit of an over-affectionate child and when he is excited he tends to hug and grab excessively. We are aware of this and about a month ago there was a report that he hit another child. Although we doubted the veracity of the hitting report, we totally bought the "he has trouble keeping his hands to himself" and we began working with him and supporting the teacher with strategies to help curb this behaviour The hitting report was un-verifiable. Neither of the 2 teachers (2 teachers - 13 kids) saw it and Oliver was adamant that he did not hit someone. As his mother, I have never known Oliver to "successfully" lie. He lacks guile so the few occasions he has tried to lie, it was very apparent. I believe him. Regardless we put a behaviour plan in motion, with weekly reports ...

I heard on the radio the other morning that Diet Soft Drinks are bad for your metabolism. Apparently the sweet taste triggers the body to expect a calorie surge, which should produce an increase in metabolism, however, when the calorie surge doesn't happen the body gets confused. Habitual consumption makes the body expect NO SURGE in calories so metabolism does not rise. This screws you up with other sweet foods that actually might have calories. What will I do? My diet coke habit is pretty severe. Here is the plan --> After the current "in-house" supply is depleted I am not going to buy any more for the house. I may still drink it at restaurants, but the in-house amount I consume is huge so this shall be first step. I am going to be so cranky and I can anticipate the headaches. I guess it will be water for me and grouchy for everyone else.

A fun new feature on my new camera. I am posting it to make me smile through my current angst. Gibson is quite happy to entertain me, especially when there's a camera to record it.

I wrote about this on the Crimes page but I am so very angry I need to put it everywhere. Usually when something bugs me I stew about it and try and figure out a solution, but I can't seem to fix this because I have no clue what will make things better or worse. I am so worried about the show because I don't 100% trust the person in charge. It is one thing to hand it over when you are sure that person is going to care for the show like it is their own... quite another when they seem blase about mistakes (2 consecutive nights - the same mistake) and they leave unexpectedly when they are supposed to be the last to go.

I received notice via Facebook that a former student of mine took his own life this past week. He would have been mid to late 20s (I am never quite sure when I taught them. I usually just have a general idea). He is one that I clearly remember. He was not one of the smart kids or the athletic kids. He was one of the odd ones, but always smiling and full of life. He tried hard at what he did and especially hard at what interested him. He was often around the drama department, usually backstage, and full of enthusiasm. I don't know the details of how his life ended, and I can only say he was far too young.

Yesterday Mom and I returned to WW after a hiatus of over 6 weeks. This meant we had to re-register, which was okay. I figured I'd join now and within 3 weeks I should have results because of the point I am at today and what is coming up with the show opening and all that. I was only up 3 lbs from when I left which is pretty good for maintaining over Christmas and the chaos of directing a show. Plus I wore heavy clothes and didn't pee before weigh in like I usually do so that's gotta be another pound!