Who the heck do I think I am?

Oh, hai, LJ! I remember that I have a thing here. I can post on it. I can read up on what my friends are doing.

Yeah. I haven't done, like, any of that since returning to what I like to call real life.

Job is going fine. Still feel like I'm swimming in an ocean of things I don't understand, but it will start to make sense; I see the edges getting more and more defined each day. Of course, my Wii no longer knows who I am. I went 42 days without using it. It yelled at me. Metaphorically. (And yet I did lose weight, because my schedule really has been that grueling.)

Show (Nunsense) went okay. Would have gone better had I not caught the flu at Balticon, thus losing my VOICE three days before opening night. Yeah. But it's okay. I wish I could say this is the first time in my life I've had to deal with such a thing. Luckily, long experience has taught me how to pull a credible performance out of my butt even when I have very little instrument to work with. The notes were all there, but all my air was simply going into sound production. And the middle of my range, right at the break, was just really friggin' scratchy sounding all weekend. But it worked; it's over; I did manage to find the sound somewhere.

So I've been recovering from that and trying to force my computer to cooperate long enough to record all the necessary vocals for Lena's LeakyCon project ("The Warlock's Hairy Heart.") - gods, I need a new computer. That is next on my list, I swear.

What else? Oh - most important: PENNSIC IS A GO! I may need to cut things a little shorter than usual, so that I can be home and back at work *on* the 15th, but yes, I am going to Pennsic. Yay!

I think that's about all for the time being. Watching the Bruins (since the Penguins must win next year instead) and Game of Thrones and playing HP Alternity. What's up with you lovely folks?

The first three performances are in the bag. It's come together to be a great show; I'm scoring points with the director (yay) and with a couple exceptions I really enjoy the cast. (And almost everyone is agreed on the exceptions.)

My cold cleared up (mostly) by opening night and completely by yesterday. And it's stopped raining!

On the downside, OMG I had insomnia on Saturday night. By 5 AM I gave UP on lying in bed not sleeping and decided to turn on the TV and hopefully go to sleep to a movie (which is a fallback for me when all else fails). Unfortunately, I chose a movie I like that I hadn't seen in a long, long time (The Sixth Sense) and got completely engrossed and didn't fall asleep the whole time.

So at 7 when it was over, I tried the process again, only this time in the living room, in my chair, with my afghans, and an older movie, one I've seen much more often and don't need to "watch" to know what's on the screen (Labyrinth). I listened from the beginning through about the point where Sara was talking to the worm and then was out. I did wake up enough to hear the end of "As the World Falls Down" and a bit of the conversation with the trash lady, and a bit of the battle for the goblin city (since that part gets loud), but that was it. Next time I woke up the movie had ended and was back on the DVD menu. I tried to repeat the process with The Last Unicorn but was less successful. I heard every scene almost up until they got to King Haggard's castle, and woke again only about 20 minutes later, when they were tricking the skeleton (Rene Auberjenois!) into telling them how to find the Red Bull. By that time I had to get up, anyway, to make breakfast and wake up enough to go to the theatre for the Sunday matinee.

Sunday night, thankfully, I got to bed around 9. Not to repeat the night before, I turned on HBO since they were showing Apollo 13 (another film I know by heart), set the "Sleep" function on the TV, and don't remember it turning itself off. Woke up at 8:30, yay.

Meanwhile, my face is still very chapped from the makeup and makeup removal process. Ouch. No matter how mild the moisturizer I use, the shit burns like acid when I put it on. It's better than not using anything, but yeeps. Ouch.

I got my census, filled it out, took it and two bills to the post office, returned my OCLC library loan book to the library and picked up Massachusetts tax forms. I also signed up for information about working for the census. I figured out that I'm "earning" about $14/hour on Unemployment, so if they're paying nearly $20 that's better. The question is can I go back on Unemployment after the census work is over? Will I have to? Oy. I dunno.

Waltham had a LOT of flooding - in fact, nearly everywhere I had to go today I had to take detours to avoid flooded areas. Concord, too. Pain in the butt, especially at 3:30 when school traffic and the detours combined to slow everything down to a crawl. And man, are other drivers ever STUPID in the rain. I'm kinda glad I don't have to go out tomorrow unless I really want to. Give the ground some time to clear itself up.

Um. That's about it. Tomorrow I will get to the taxes and some Fleur business and oh, yes, laundry.

My days are so exciting.

My throat hurts and my nose is running and I'm coughing in a very non-productive way. Headcold. BLEAH.

On the plus side, I am NOT going to work tomorrow! Yay! I have a day full of appointments and errands, and I just hope I can get them done without feeling like utter crap.

Oh, and hey, I have a storage locker in my flat now, instead of in my car! Thanks very much to Iwain MKA Graham who came over last night and helped muscle the monster locker through the door. Once we got it up the stairs it was no problem at all, as I expected. (And thanks to Carl for putting me in touch with Graham!)


I've been thinking about theatre work and finding jobs, and especially voice work. I found a site, but just like ExploreTalent, you really have to subscribe to the service to be able to respond to auditions or upload your own files for people to reference. Is it worth $200/year? Well, if I invest and get a job for $500, then it's paid for itself, right? But if I invest and don't get a job at all.... hm. Will continue to think.


GAH. I am taking cough syrup and going to bed.

Oh - I have things to say about SPN and ProjectRunway but...not tonight. Bleah.

I hate having a cold.

I'm sniffling and my nose is running like a river. My throat hurts. I don't feel sick - no loss of appetite or flu-like symptoms - but my head is muzzy and my nose hurts.

I stayed home from work today and I'm logged on to the work computer. Rah. I've done a load of laundry and I'll start packing to go away this weekend...soon.

I had to go to the store to get OJ and more milk. I know I need the OJ because it tasted uncommonly good. I'll have to be careful not to give this to the sprog when I see her.

Also, for the past three days, the tendons in the backs of my heels / ankles have HURT. I thought it was maybe a little bruising from my construction / winter boots, hitting different pressure points. But it hasn't gone away. Going up and down stairs, even walking, feels like my Achilles' tendons have been strained, like the muscles are pulled. It's OWIE. Am I just falling apart, or is this something else?

/hypochondria


In other news, I got a callback for Nine - sounds like they are looking at me for one of the minor characters, which is just groovy - I could have a hella good time with the reporter or the lady of the spa or something like that. It's unrealistic to expect a *leading* role in a company I've not worked with before. They also said it's primarily a dance audition, though, so I really hope I can keep stretching my ankles and get over whatever this musculo-tendon thing is before then.


Work-wise, I dunno, I've just been alternately "meh" and "Grr" about it lately. No particular reason, I don't think. Just generally annoyed. Maybe doing a show will help.


Oh, and for Capers, I'm trying to decide what to perform. I think it's not necessary to sing "Cabaret" - especially since the accompanist is also the Music Director for Cabaret - but also because he's asking to meet up with people ahead of time, so it might be possible to do something a little more involved. (Plus we're already planning a trio that pokes fun at what happened, and singing *another* selection just feels petty.) I dunno - maybe it's time to do Scarlet Pimpernel or something.


Ugh, I really feel crappy. I cannot breathe. I had to record a SpellCast reading last night, too - sorry in advance, folks. It's dot gudda soud bardicularly good.


What else? S'about it.

ETA: Forgot to add this. I found out from my chief editor the other day that our publisher has decided to stop producing hard copies - going electronic only, in other words - and we're leaving that publisher as a result. It also sounds like some other changes are happening, because when I asked about the anthology we had been working on, she said she didn't think it was going to happen and didn't have "a good feeling" about it. Also two other editors (not part of our original group) would be the ones working on it.

So. It sounds like my editing with that group is coming to an end, at least for a while. We are changing publishers - the new one will be Dark Quest Games - but it also means that I can work up a few stories, including the one that was going in the next anthology, and start looking for a place to publish them on my own.

Which is good and bad. I mean, working with Sidhe Na Daire was fairly low-key and easy and moderately successful, and I'm not sure I have the energy or the time to push my own writing forward without something so easy. Yes, I'm lazy. I'm also busy.

Maybe when Azkatraz is over and I don't have something else to obsess over. Hah.

Well, technically, Eldersburg.

Long day yesterday, topped off with no wireless at my aunt and uncle's (which, why would they? They've only got one computer). So I'm just posting now.

Who will I see at Balticon? I don't have a panel until 5:00 PM, but tomorrow I'm there pretty much all day.

I'm also *Still* coughing/sore throating/GI Tract vaguely unhappy no matter what-ing. I think it's turning sinus infection-y. Will get Dayquil on the way to the con.

Okay, I had an ear infection about...11 years ago? And since then my left ear has been a little messed up. It doesn't "pop" with pressure changes. Between my stuffed-up head and chest, for the first time in a LONG time while flying, I had actual PAIN on the descent. As in, from the bit of cartilage that covers the ear canal, down through my Eustachian tubes and the cochlear duct, right into my lymph nodes under the jaw hurt. Sharp pain. Yay.

And I feel gnawingly hungry, but anything I eat goes down and causes lots and lots of GI distress... (Ew, yeah, I know). I'm just burping like mad, feels like I've overeaten even if I've just had a few bites. I had mad hiccups Thursday night for like half an hour, and did I mention the abdominal cramps?

Yeah. And I cough every time I breathe too deep. This is GREAT.

So it's probably just as well that I won't see my nieces (well, technically, my uncle and aunt's grandchildren, but since technically, we're not blood relatives, anyway....). I really wouldn't want to pass on this lovely spring virus.

But if you're planning to be at Balticon, come anyway - I promise I won't breathe on you.