Finster Finds

Had a great lunch/meeting with AM about life and our Fringe show. We are on track. I got there 1/2 an hour early and that gave me time to look at the script and make some really good notes for where it needs to go. I shall work on that tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. I am excited about ideas that came up for the script both from my head and from suggestions from AM. It is a good place to be. Also, got the email about schedules for next week for A Little Night Music - YAY! I only rehearse Tuesday next week (which means I have to cancel one other item and decline another - sigh), so I can look at planning with the Fringe Team for a read through of the script. May should be a reading and re-writing month with June getting busier, so hopefully I will get more schedule information from ALNM and then I can plan with my team. I know that I will have Monday nights free... I can also use those. Anyhow, I am in a better place now than I was earlier. I even got some more done on that Character St

Yesterday was demolished by errands and cyberspace. I have to get a computer that is not linked to the internet so I don't waste so much time on Facebook and Twitter. My great writing push from earlier in the week did not extend into yesterday and today has been tied up with errands, Store work (payday tomorrow!), and a lunch date. Hopefully I will get something done this afternoon. There is tomorrow, but I plan to be napping after the wedding. Yes, I am planning on watching. I am hoping it takes my mind off the election. Tonight I have my one-on-one for A Little Night Music . I haven't finished my Character Study, but I have done a bit on it. It feels weird to do it when I haven't done anything but a read-through on the show. I am really adverse to making definitive choices for my character until I work with the text aloud and with the other actors. I know, it sounds like excuses, but those of you who have worked with me as a Director, you know that I work very intensivel

On Twitter someone posted a link to youtube where the Edmonton Journal interviewed the candidates in at least 2 ridings about specific policies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeIw-MxyIvs&feature=relmfu There are interviews with the Strathcona Riding candidates as well as the Edmonton Centre Ridings. It is a cool way to compare the 4 candidates in each riding as well as the parties themselves since the questions are policy related. Each is given a chance to answer the question, and the set-up is respectful and clear. I am searching to see if something similar was done in my Riding. I am not a person to blindly vote for the party. I have mentioned before that no one party fits me, so the individual candidate is important to me too. Anyhow, check this out. It is a nice way to look at the issues.

I am trying live by that motto now. I am avoiding anything that looks like it is going to get me riled up and I think that might just work... On the up side... I just got home from a lovely brunch at the Petroleum Club, hosted by Ma and Pa Strand and with Matt and Mel and their children in attendance. After the meal, the 4 kids went downstairs for Easter crafts and more crap to eat. The grown-ups stayed upstairs and chatted. It was lovely. I fully expect Gibson to crash from the chocolate he has eaten and that won't be pretty, but so far he seems pretty cheerful. The boys are playing the Wii and getting along splendidly. I am going to continue with the laundry and then get back to the writing I started yesterday. My kitchen needs cleaning, but I am saving that for Tuesday when I am home alone and can't leave because of the Alarm Company coming by to do some maintenance. It is a lovely Spring day, the sun is shining, and all is well.

Everyone gets just so very hateful. I like my friends and family (which include people of all political points of view) so much better when they are not spouting what they believe is such a hateful way. I think it is great that we live here in Canada. I am confident that the result of the election will be the result of the election , and that we don't have to worry about voting fraud. I think that the great thing about the country is that people can believe what they want to, AND I believe that they are not necessarily EVIL if they don't agree with me. I have been most disappointed by my friends on the left. Compared to the righties I know, they have been awful. Maybe it is because I am so firmly in the middle, that I feel all the attacks, because while I agree with some NDP, some Liberal, some Green and some Conservative policies - I do not agree wholeheartedly with any of them. Maybe it is because I follow more people on the left on Twitter and FB. Compared to the everyday p

So the show closed this weekend. It was a fabulous experience. I know, if it wasn't great to do it, you wouldn't put all that time in for free. But beyond the usual greatness of doing a show, this particular experience was even better. The cast and crew really bonded and the show itself grew because of that. I personally had a great time and felt that I grew a bit through the experience. The show is not typical of musical theatre. How could it be? It's freaking Brecht and Weill! I found this the toughest music I have ever had to learn. It isn't stuff you can hum at home on your own unless you have listened to it over and over and over again. I can hum a few songs now (not my own though). The show is not nice and pretty, neither is the music, but it is funny and sharp and cynical and rude and a bit crude. We had fantastic costumes and an amazing set and wonderful musicians and I feel like I made many good friends through it. I know not all my friends who came to see it l

I had my callback for A Little Night Music tonight. It went well for me and I am happy with what I did. It went well for the other actress up for the same role, too. So, I think they can go either way. I will be cool with that. It would be different if I was obviously better and didn't get it. I think they will have a hard decision to make and I am glad I do not have to make it. I love the part though, and the song ( Every Day A Little Death ) so I will keep my fingers crossed. Also, I know a lot of great people in the cast or up for roles, so it would be nice to play with them. I wish my life weren't so busy, because then I would have opened myself up for more options int he show, but it is jam packed already so a cameo is about all I can handle at this point. I will keep you posted!

Well, the cat is so much better. She was over-prescribed on the dosage for her insulin and after she spent a day with the vet getting her stabilized she is home and back to normal with a much lower dosage that seems to be working. So much better. The show is doing well. We have had really nice full audiences (100+) for the first three nights and last night (Saturday) was SOLD OUT! Hurrah! We usually do well on the Sunday matinee so I expect to see quite a few there today. I have had a lot of my friends come and they have been very positive for the most part (I have one friend who didn't like it but she didn't like the music and I think it wasn't her kind of show - fair enough). The reviews are good and I have been blessed with being singled out in a nice way. Right now my hair is in curlers. I wish I could nap with them in because I do not feel I got to sleep in as late as I would have liked. I am thinking of exploring a way to sleep sitting up!

The Ups are mostly at the theatre. The show opened and audiences are really responsive and seem to like it. I got great feedback from AM, who will not lie to me. So if she said it was good, it was... I certainly feel the love from the audiences. It is a tough show in many ways because it is not typical musical theatre. Brecht is very blatant and there are no jazz hands, baby! Also, I really like this cast and crew (except whoever stole my Diet Coke from the fridge... I will find you and exact my vengeance!) so being around them all is wonderful fun. The Downs mostly are at home, with Smeep. She took a turn this morning. I am pretty sure she was hypoglycemic. She couldn't' make her legs work. We are trying to stay on the insulin schedule but she is not eating so it's a big frigging mess in her body. I hate to say it, but I preferred it when she was having accidents all over the house. At least she could walk and talk to us. I am worried. She is at the Vet right now and hopef

We open the show ( The Threepenny Opera ) officially tonight. We have had our two Preview Shows and they were a good opportunity to get used to an audience. I feel we are ready (I think we were on Thursday last). It is always so good to get the work out there in front of people after all that time. We started rehearsing this in January (feels so long ago), music first, then blocking, then choreography, then working it until it gelled. It is time. Yay! Hurray! I hope to see you all in the audience...

It's not a urine tract infection... it's diabetes, a disease which she will likely have for the rest of her life and which requires 2 injections of insulin every day at very specific times. It could be worse. It could be something without treatment or with an even more expensive treatment. It will likely cost us about $1000 per year at first estimates. It could be one of my kids. I am not wrapping my head around the logistics of this needle thing though. I worry it will chain us to the house at 8 and 8 forever. I am currently pulling a Scarlett O'Hara and thinking about it tomorrow, because I don't know how we are going to make it work. Maybe we will get the sugars managed so that she only will require one needle a day... does that happen? Please say it does...

Tonight is Director's Preview for The Threepenny Opera . Yesterday we had our final Dress and theatre clean. It went so fast (the clean) - the benefit of having a large cast. We feel very ready - we need the reaction from the audience. I now enter 2 weeks of tired. The show itself runs about 2 1/4 hours so I should be able to get home by 11 each night (if I forgo make-up removal). Of course, then I need to de-brain before I can fall asleep. This week I should be able to get a little rest int he day (not today - errands) if I judiciously nap. Next week I have a 3 day project that will preclude napping. Sigh. I also have some homework this week - reading. Pray for me! I am sure the show will energize me and my feet seem to have adjusted to the wearing of the high heels. I had an awful time last week with my feet, but they are not so bad today. I also have to deal with the doing of the hair. That will take some coordination. I think I have a plan... Anyhow, I hope to see you out for

I am a married woman (coming up on 15 years) with 2 small children that I chose to stay home with as opposed to putting them in daycare. Although I taught for 14 years I no longer do and , my husband and I own a small business in the health care field. We employ several part time employees (and we voluntarily pay them above the minimum wage and often give raises unasked). We invest in RRSPs and RESPs for our children. We own a house with a mortgage. I do a lot of volunteer work in the arts and occasionally get financial compensation for that. I do not rely on that compensation for my living - my business supports me. I give to charities, primarily in arts and health. I spend 20 hours a week minimum in volunteer activities. I also go to University part-time and use this to pay in for my additional health care. My children are in arts and sports activities. Who should I vote for and why? And by WHY, I mean, how does that party represent my interests?