So LOVE AND WAR has come to a close. Which is good in a way because it means I have a second to breathe, and its bad because its probably the last show that the 'theatrerats' will do together. Especially the seven of us, who are the ones that have pretty much stuck around brockville in the summers, we're about all thats left, everyone else is in TO, not that I blame them. But it is pretty awesome to be onstage with all of your friends, and I'm definitely going to miss that.

We don't have final numbers yet, the arts centre is still crunching those numbers, but I'm just really impressed that we managed to produce a show at the arts centre. Im thinking we probably broke even, or very close which really, is a pretty good thing. It would have been nice to make a little money, but really we just didn't have the manpower. I mean, for sponsorship alone you really should have someone that can work on it like, 3 hours a day, just calling and calling until you get someone. I called a bunch of times but people were never available. I did manage to raise 1,400 in sponsorship, which isn't too bad for a first try.
Artistically I think the show went really well. We didn't have the audiences we wanted unfortunately but they were better than last year and they weren't dismal or anything. The lighting was beautiful, the sound was decent (only a few feedback issues, and thats not really our fault) the singing and acting was top notch (if I do say so myself). Its just so frustrating to have a great product and very few people coming to see it. Especially when a mediocre show can absaloutely fill that auditorium. Grrrr.... So Although I don't think I'll make any money off of it, it was still an awesome expereince in terms of learning that I should never attempt to produce a show basically on my own (Jess did help obviously, but with a full time job there was only so much she could do until the week of the show) especially when I have a full time job...because that was just dumb.

Speaking of my Job, camp went well. There was this weird and really annoyingly uncomfortable tension between some of the counsellors during the last two weeks. It was so weird, it was like we walked in monday morning of week four and everything had changed...for no reason. It was SO bizzare. But our show Music Man Jr. went really well. I was really proud of the kids (and the backstage counsellors....that was the most stressfull backstagbe show I've ever had in my life, the scene changes were INTENSE!!!) My end of camp performance review went really well, and If I'm going to be in b-ville next summer, I would most likely work there again. I taught private voice lessons to three of the campers as well, which was a fun way to pull in some extra money. We did a little recital at the end, I think the parents were happy with it.

Anyway, I'm going to head to bed as it is ridiculously late. and I'm quite sleepy.

Today I coreographed three numbers for the show. I was very tired and massively sweaty. Stupid studio with no air flow whatsoever and a sketchy floor that moves when you walk. But yay for having some numbers done!! The other day I actually fell down the fire escape stairs (which is how we get into the building) it was raining and the stairs were wet..I said to Tarah "be carefull, it's really slippery" and promptly fell on my ass. I twisted my back and my arm (I NEED to get into the chiropractor, it still hurts) bruised my hand, and the only thing that stopped me from going all the way down the stairs was that my ankle caught in the rail, got twisted back behind me and slowed me down. I have a fun bruise to show for that too. Gah...Plus..I screamed...really really loudly... so all of the people that live in the sketchy housing around our sketcy studio came out to see what the ruckus was about...so that was nice and embarrasing. good times.

The boat is waxed and ready to go into the water....only problem..my dad is super busy and has no time to put it in!! (plus someone else from work was using the Truck...grrrr) but hopefully tomorow!! We bought a new tube (another three person one) so we're excited to try it out!! Well, Im excited to be the spotter...Im not much of a tuber (haha..tuber, like potato) I'm far to chicken to go in with anyone except my six year old cousin. lol.

Anyway, we have our first rehearsal on the stage tomorow!! Yay!! with at least part of the set too, my dad made a bunch of blocks for us tonight. Hopefully that goes well.
In sunburn news...today..the skin on the back of my legs boiled. Yup...it all bubbled up...and didn't start to peel off or anything..just bubbled and stayed a weird bubbly texture for quite a while. Eventually it started peeling....gross! I hate sunburns...and the skin underneath the peeling stuff isn't nice new skin...its charred too. awesome. I can't bend my legs again...grrr. I feel like I should be willow in that buffy episode in season six, where she's meditating to grow back more skin, and then buffy gives her strenght and its all cute....I need new skin.

I want to tell the tale of the toads....but Im too tired. Tomorow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE!!
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY LAURA!!! (it's my dad's bday too...and I got all distracted and forgot to wish you happy birthdya...so there it is!!)

So yesterday was our big carwash (not really that big - its only a ten member cast) to raise money for the peanuts show. We were in teh Canadian Tire parking lot from 10-4 on a scorching hot day, and since we have never organized one of these monsters before, we didn't think to bring chairs, or shade of any kind. Most of the kids were only there for half, but Tarah, Jess and I stuck out the whole thing. We made about 250 dollars, which isn't super, but its 250 dollars we didn't have before. Now, I slathered on suncreen every half hour SPF 30, really good stuff. I also wore a hat and giant sunglasses all day. However, what I neglected to do, was reapply sunscreen to my legs. My legs NEVER (except once in the bahamas when I fell asleep on the beach with no sunscreen from 11 - 1) burn or absorb any colour at all, they stay pasty, glowing white at all times so although I put sunscreen on first thing in the morning, I didn't give it much thought after that as I was so concerned about my face/shoulders/arms which burn like nothing else. However, now I have the second worst burn on my legs I've ever had (the first being the bahamas incident) and a mild case of sunpoisining. awesome. I can barely walk, I have to hobble, stairs are a nightmare because The back of my knees are burnt so they won't bend. I'm also freezing cold, then super hot, then freezing again. I seriously hate the sun. So it sustains life on earth...big deal!! grrrr....
Also, we were supposed to have our new boat this weekend, but alas it wasn't ready yet. And the weahter decided to be perfect boating weather just to taunt us.
Apparently Im mad at nature this weekend.
Total weight loss so far for the summer = 10 pounds! Yay! It's slow and frustrating, but I'm sick of being fat and not having any of my clothes fit me. So Hopefully, things will keep going well.
all right..thtas it for now, I need to go slather more aloe on my legs, and its gross because we just take a thing right off the plant...its super good for you, but it has the consistency of boogers. yech.

So I had a very busy weekend!

On friday Tarah had an appointment at CHEO so we went up to Ottawa and went shopping. We went to the Bayshore mall and stopped in American Eagle (Tarah's current favourite store) where NOTHING ever fits me, but she's always in there for hours, so I figured I'd try some stuff on, mostly to pass the time. I ended up with a great pair of shorts and four tops (three tanks, one T-shirt) that were all on sale. One of the tanks tarah actually has in her size in the same colour. She was really angry I bought it, it was funny. After the mall we went to my aunt and uncles house for dinner as it was my little cousins fifth birthday. Both of them are so adorable, and were SOOOO hyper. But it was fun. Plus Craig came home that evening, so that was good.

Saturday morning Craig, Tarah and I went to watch Mom and Dad in the Dragon Boat Races. It was actually a lot of fun. Maple leaf had a tent thing set up and the minute I got there I was handed a mamosa, lol. THe races were actually pretty excited. Maple Leaf (my dad's company that they were rowing for) ended up coming Fourth (or first in the B division) out of forty teams, so that was kind neat. Plus I got to babysit an adorable little 10 month old during the one race where both of his parents were rowing. SOOO cute. Then we headed off to rehearsal from 1:40 - 7:00. Long day! But things went well. Then it was off to the Mill for dinner for Craig's B-day, and home for cake. I also played D&D for the first time. (dungeons and dragons, yes yes...ive reached a whole new level of geekiness) It was actually kind of fun, because its basically like a big choose your own adventure book, except that craig can make things up and and kill you (he's the narrator or "dungeon master", lol.) if he feels like it.

Sunday was sunday in the park! Rehearsal from 1-4 went really well, we sounded FANTASTIC! Then we went to the park, and after a few small crises, such as not having enough stands, the piano being really late etc, we got fully set up and decided to start. Unfortunately, the sound guy didn't bring any moniters at all. and we had 13 people singing with one piano in an outdoor open air concert. We coudln't hear each other or the piano if there was more than one person singing at a time. So we thought the group numbers were pretty much a disaster. But when we listened to the video afterwards it seemed like the sound actually mixed really well from the audiences point of view. Our timing was a little off in one or two places, but not nearly as sketchy as we thought. and even if we could have heard each other, a little roughness is to be expected with a group of 12 - 24 year olds who only practiced several songs with difficult harmonies for a total of about 6 hours. The crowd was tiny (we had the first park date, which is alwasy low) but they were appreciative. They ate up anything Craig sang, and they LOVED 'The Girl in 14G', I was really hoping my old voice teacher would be there to hear it, but she wasn't. *gah* and I got all of the coloratura stuff right! way better than at the LMT revue. Oh well.

Today Ive just been doing some theatre related work stuff, and went to yoga with a different teacher, as our other sessions finished last week. This teacher is different, less meditation, more quick moving poses, which is fine with me. As long as there is shavasinad at the end (my sanskrit spelling is attrocious, it means corpse pose) then I'm all good.

and thats it for me, this is HUGELY long.

So today, another successful rehearsal, althoug the frackin music still hasn't come in. (that was a battlestar galatica reference...oh when will the rest of season two come out on DVD??) If the music doens't get here soon, we're totaly humped as we're on a tight schedule. (firefly reference there....my goodness Im a geek!! :) ) Our accompanist however, told me that he can't play for the second show. So now I need to search for another accompanist pray and cross fingers that Karalyn can do it. She's the best accompanist in Brockville and she loves several members of the cast...so hopefully things work out.

My voice student didn't show up yesterday...growl. So I just waited for 40 minutes, then my sister came and I gave her a lesson, which my mom assures me I will be paid for. lol. I have to call and see why he wasn't there, mom says I should charge for the missed lesson...I'm thinking maybe half price? Im not sure what would be right. My other student starts at the end of June which is exciting and hopefully some camp kids will be interested in private lessons as well.

So...day seven of the Joshi diet completed. My new favorite (and almost entirely legal...except for the 1 strawberry) food is a 'yogurt shake'. My own invention! (though I'm pretty sure im not the first to come up with it...) bananas, plain yogurt (not vanilla, plain...its kind of sour), a squirt of pure organic honey, one strawberry, and water. tasty, filling and allowed! yay! Tomorow I get to have the liver cleansing drink. mmmm....I'm excited. and by excited I mean mildly terrified.

all right. to bed I go.

So today was day 6 of the Joshi diet. We ran out of honey, bannanas and goats cheese and suddenly, I had nothing to eat. All I had until dinner was some plain yogurt, two plain ricecakes, and water. Yuck.
We had a big long rehearsal for Peanuts today. It went pretty well, we learned a lot of the music! I need to remember to make CD's for people to learn from though. I think the kids are 100% confident that the show will go on. I've got them selling tickets now. hooray! Money to buy costumes! The peanuts posters are finished, just need to be printed off. I think I'm going to go with three performances of love and war. One on the friday night and two on saturday. That's the most cost efficient, and we can just invite a reporter to our dress rehearsal for the revue. Now I just need to convince Joe that we can't do it without him. (which is pretty much true, plus, he's on the poster!!)
Mom and I went to Merrikville the other day (really cute tiny town about 40 minutes from here) to go to the leather store to buy me a purse for my birthday. After much debating I got a little brown bag. I really like it. *RIP star bag* I also bought an eyepillow for yoga. Yay yoga. Im still a little sore from thursday, I think I pushed myself a little far, but it didn't feel like it at the time. Oh well, it gets easier every week.

Anyway...I should get to bed. I have a voice lesson to teach tomorow.

So today was the second day of mine and my moms attempt to follow the Dr. Joshi detoxifying diet. Basically we can't eat any wheat, gluten, dairy (goats cheese is ok - and plain probiotic yogurt) fruit (thats a killer) except for bananas or any butter, sugar (except for pure organic honey) or anything else that would make things taste good. I started my day off with gluten free cheerio-like things with Ryza..which is rice milk of some kind. It was rather gross. We made some homemade bread (gluten free) and it was ok, except for the spongy texture I remember so well from when my little sister was 5 and they thought she had celiacs. Gah! However, I have discovered that plain rice cakes with a little organic honey drizzled on top can be an excellent treat!

In theatre news. I am now officially the General Manager/co-Artistic Director of the Bronze Youth Theatre, which is exciting and terrifying all at the same time. The script for our peanuts show is done, we're just waiting for the music in the mail. But we've had two rehearsals so far, a read through and one music rehearsal where we learned 'happiness'. The cast will be 10 kids aged 12-17. And all of them are cast and have agreed to do it except for the girl we would like to play Marcie. She's a friend of tarah's and she's just working out some scheduling issues, I really hope she can do it, because if not, we've got to go searching for another Marcie.
For the other show, Love and War, it looks like we can get teh arts center, which is awesome, right now I'm just working out a little insurance problem but other than that everything seems to be a go. Im debating now between having three or four performances, Im leaning towards four but I don't want a half empty audience every night. Gah! there are so many big things to think about, and then there are a ton of tiny little things to think about, and then there's the big terrifying fact that I'm going to have to ask for donations, and I hate asking people for money. We'll see how it goes I guess.
all right, bedtime for me!!