random side notes - chapter twenty five

my desk is developing tiny mountains again. it's time to tame my paper demon and throw more stuff into the recycling before stuart copeland causes an avalanche. he likes to wedge himself into a corner and lay against the piles while he squirms around until they spread out into a big pillow for him. cats are messy people.

it would seem that most everyone i know that used to blog has abandoned that practice in favor of the more ubiquitous facebook. all is quiet on the blogging front, for the most part. (kris, i haven't forgotten about you.) i heard a story on the radio about how burger king offered people free burgers last year for participating in the "whopper sacrifice" on facebook. all you had to do was delete ten friends from your page and wha-bam! free food! you might be surprised how many free whoppers they gave away... or maybe you wouldn't. talk about making choices, huh?

my latest writing project involves something very simple. pull out chair, insert butt. i've been assigned to an easy five minutes a day of writing. easy? only when you don't think too hard about that five minutes. it's part of a new class i'm doing about creative journals. if people can get buddies to work out with them, then having a group to motivate you into writing a bit every day makes just as much sense. after already missing a day, i've decided that it is just like exercise and i'll make it up by adding on an extra five minutes today. seems as if i can catch up on my correspondence this way. alice and amy haven't heard from me lately, and bonnie is always on my mailing list. mostly i am trying to encourage the habit of just sitting down and making the effort to write something. so it might be crap, or it just might be a starting point. it's better than nothing but a blank space. my only aversion is to the whiny, because it's an easy wallow trap to fall into on the page.

derek just gave the "this is my gun, there are many like it" chant inserting the word cat wherever you normally say gun. he's currently cooing away with his little princess dizzy. she's much more cuddly than she used to be.

the cheese experiment has certainly gotten people's attention. chris was in town this past week for jason and alicia's wedding. when he heard about the whole process he asked me, "where is my sister and what have you done with her?" in case you've been wanting to ask, yes i do think it's a great activity for the kids. the mess is minimal, the skill level is easy, and the time commitment is short enough to keep their attention. he's going to use it with alex and her classmates as a way to teach them some more about nutrition and science. chris teaching a group of kids how to make mozzarella string cheese? i want a photo of that one.

noise is an important part of my creative endeavors. the clacking sound of the keyboard, the tapping of a bracelet against a hard surface, the sound of my feet on the floor as i pace - these are all parts of the process to me. when i'm taking notes while directing a show, i've heard more than one actor comment about how they heard my pencil scratching away in the dark. this is possibly why it's so difficult for me to concentrate in a library. the quiet of the room is almost disturbing, making me work very hard to focus on the hum of the lights or the shuffling of pages.

my dr. pepper binge was bizarre. i had a sip of this kind, a sip of that kind, and then put all the bottles back into the fridge for later. the one big glass of it i had at brunch on sunday was like a crazy caffeine potion. as predicted by shawn, my taste buds were confused and i've opted for more water and juice in the past few days even though i have a choice now.

thanks to my ipod, i've become a podcast junkie. no longer do i just hope to catch my favorite shows when they're playing live. no longer do i have to turn on the stereo at home or come up with an excuse to drive around aimlessly just to listen to the radio. i can't be hemmed in by scheduling! if i thought tivo was great, then i also heart my podcasts. everyone knows there's nothing good on the radio when you're actually listening to it anyway. it's like a timing law of nature. you either get the best driveway moments when you're in a real hurry or you worry about getting in a wreck from being so busy flipping the station away from the annoying crap that sends you into a road rage. now i have the holy trinity of my car, my ipod, and me.

i really like double stick tape.

my latest art acquisitions make me so happy! one was an impulse buy and i don't even care that i probably can't afford it. i've become enamored with the paintings of audrey eclectic and i can't stop staring at them. i even got one as a gift for the wedding. the odd thing is that they're so different from the normally ultra-pop stuff i like to buy. there's something vaguely victorian and yet still very modern about them. if you have a chance, go to her site and take a gander. oh, and she herself is a fun lady, so buying her pieces made me extra joyful. she was really excited when i gave her a couple of my line sketches. does no one give art to an artist? it really isn't as intimidating as i thought, and she seemed to enjoy the juxtaposition. sheesh, even holly has some of my work. she recently did a portrait of me in oil paints and it looks totally cool. now i just have to decide where to put it in the living room and get some more of my sketches to her in return. that resolution i made is beginning to pay off in my favor. i was so in need of making a transition from simply being inspired to making myself be more creative. i swear, there are so many people running around in my head that i really have to have some way to let them out of here. every time i hear that flat tire whap-whap-whapping in my head i know it's time to get something done.

auditions on my project are coming up this week! my little directors are ready and i myself am terribly excited. i'll let you know how it goes. they've been pretty professional overall so far, and this looks to be a great show. it's interesting to watch them begin to take charge of the project on their own. at our first production meeting they all looked like they were on spontaneous vomit alerts. now that they have some idea of where to go with the individual plays, they're starting to sound more confident about what they're doing. let's see what happens after they get a cast.


recent everyday triumphs:
getting out of bed
cooking
leaving the house
brushing my hair... sometimes