Things I've never done before Part 1: Finish a knitting project

Ever since I was in high school I've always kept lists of things that I want to eventually do. Some of them were very attainable (go peach picking in the summer, spend more time reading) and others were more ambitious/ridiculous (learn Japanese, own a pirate ship).

Either way it's something I've always done. So I've decided I'm going to start documenting the things I do that I've never done before. Things that might have found a place on a list like that at some point in my life. I've already done a few things this summer that I want to write about, but let's start simple!

Finishing a knitting project!

Back in high school I had a group of friends that were very crafty. They were just great at making things. Clothes, purses, scarves...the whole deal. I, on the other hand, have NEVER been crafty. I'm terrible at making things. One time in Spanish Class we had to make a some sort of flower out of tissue (I'm sure it had something to do with Spanish, but who knows...) and mine literally looked like something you'd find in a dumpster.

Anywho! These crafty friends of mine wanted to start a knitting circle (my hometown was pretty boring so we had to get creative with our hobbies, I have to say we did damn good job of making our own fun) so we could knit and hang out. Well, they taught me how to knit and I realized it was the first crafty thing I wasn't obscenely awful at! We got together a few times to knit, but eventually we stopped and found some other silly thing to do with our time.

Long story short...I never finished anything. Ever. Because all I ever knew how to do was cast off and do a knit stitch. So I would get bored 1/4 of the way through a scarf and give up. I have started COUNTLESS scarves (usually when I was home from college on Christmas vacation) and never finished them.

So fast forward to a few months ago. There's a groupon for knitting classes! At a place that's two blocks from my apartment! And my friend Scarlett wanted to learn too! Yay!

I've been to two classes so far and I'm excited to say I'm ALMOST done with my hat! I dropped a few stitches and don't know how to bind off...so I'm going to wait until next class to finish...but I'M DOING IT! finishing something I started. Ahh..the little things:



I have a lot of yarn leftover so I think my next project will be some simple fingerless mitts to match my hat. And once I get confidant with my abilities I can start making things for other people!

Part 2 of "Things I've never done before" will feature THE WARRIOR DASH! Which was an awesome obstacle course/race I ran/crawled/walked the end of June.

Oh heyyy June, how's it going?!

So June is pretty much gone. Bye June!

Let's see. Since I last posted I have taken Maestro to a farm, been in a playreading in NYC, gone to California to babysit my siblings, rehearsed for another apartment play (which opens tonight), purchased a car (well, Pops helped with that), seen a couple of plays and worked my various jobs.

My friend Kyler drove my car across the country to get it to Boston. He documented his exploits here:
http://chelseascar.tumblr.com

Very exciting. He just got back to Boston last night.

June 6th I participated in a playreading. My friend Kim wrote it and it's called "Man in Boat". I really, really loved being a part of it.

The people who ran this reading were the NICEST people. They were so welcoming and grateful that I came all the way from Boston to do the reading. I couldn't believe how kind they were to me. Not that I expect theatre people to be assholes or anything, but they were just so genunine! They really loved what they were doing and it showed. Sometimes I get really tired of the shallow, presentational way actors/theatre people interact with one another. I understand that acting is a business and people have to "schmooze" and "network" or whatever, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I only bring that up so I can say how refreshing it was to work with people who brought an infectious joy to their work. It was just really...nice. I hope I get to work with them again in the future because it really made me happy.

Not only did I get to meet some great new people, but I also got to work with people I already adore. Emma, Kim, and Kyler. Overall, it was just this perfect little whirlwind trip and I'm so thankful I got to take part in such a great reading.

A few days after the reading I flew to California with Joe to babysit my siblings. It was really, really nice actually. My siblings are hilarious and it was so good to see them. I got to see Tobey play baseball, too! Which was really great. We mostly just took it easy all week. We saw Super 8, played mini golf, went bowling, took Tobey to his baseball practices, took Saylor to her cheerleading practices, went swimming, and barbaqued. Sadly, we didn't get a chance to it to LA, but we did get to see Carly! And Kyler joined us to pick up our car!

The car thing was a whole ordeal, too, but I'm too lazy to get into it. All that matters is that everything worked out! Dealing with getting car insurance has been a pain in the ass...car insurance salesman...so...pushy...

Tomorrow I'm doing the WARRIOR DASH! I've deeply slacked on my running since my California trip, but hopefully doing the Warrior Dash will help me get back into it! haha!

Well, that's pretty much it on my end! Just thought I'd babble for a little while. Hopefully I'll be better about posting in July. And hey! I still have a couple of days left in June to make up for my slacking, right?!

Summertime

I've been having fantasies about summer.

The past week has been the week of GLOOM (not the pokemon). It's been rainy or foggy every single day. I usually love the rain. Especially warm spring rain. But consistently dour weather? It gets to a person.

Still, I've been making the best of it. I worked on the Freedom Trail quite a bit which has been a HUGE relief on my financial panic. I've also been meeting a lot of great people on my tours.

I've been sticking to my running plan really well! I've been consistently running every other day for about three weeks now! Last Sunday I ran three and a half miles in twenty nine minutes! and it felt great! Tomorrow I'm due to run four miles! I've really come to enjoy my time running. Tuesday I made Mike run a 5k with me. He hated me for it, but I think in the end he had a good time!

Last weekend I saw "Learn to Be Latina" at the Boston Playwrights Theatre. I had a blast (despite being in a kind of sour mood due to my horrendous allergies). I'll probably write down a proper review type post later, but I'm too lazy to do it right now. Ha!

Been playing L.A. Noire. Don't know how I feel about it yet. It's unique, but it's also just a a mash-up of games I've played before (Phoenix Wright, Grand Theft Auto, Heavy Rain etc). Which isn't necessarily a bad thing! In fact I appreciate any video game that tries to push gaming in a new direction. Yes, first person shooters and rpgs are fun and all, but it gets OLD. Good on them for trying something new. Still, it's certainly a flawed game. We'll see how it plays out!

Maestro has had quite a few couple of weeks! Last Friday he got his balls snipped (poor guy). At first when he came home he was aimlessly wandering around the apartment like he didn't know what to do with himself (it was probably all the drugs he was doped up on..), but the next day he bounced back completely. It was like nothing had even happened! Which was good and bad. Good because yay! he was still the same joyful pup, but bad because he'd leap onto things without abandon (making me panic that he'd rip his stitches right open). But so far so good! The incision looks good! We took him to the vet on Thursday because he RANDOMLY pissed in our bed. He was literally just lying down and staring at us. Then he got up and we noticed he was in a puddle of his own urine. This was very bizarre as he hasn't had an accident in months.

We took him to the vet and she said he seemed completely healthy! While we were there we also got him microchipped, but today I got a call and she said they found a few "crystals" in his urine (doesn't that sound magical?). Crystals are kind of the equivalent of kidney stones (but evidently a little less painful). She wasn't in when I called her back so not sure what to do next. Maestro SEEMS perfectly happy, but who knows! We might take him in again on Monday to see what we should do.

Oh! and we officially registered him with the akc! So his registered named is "Carl Sagan's Whale Song". It just felt right!

AND I'm taking Maestro to a farm next week to get him tested for herding instinct! If he likes it I want to get him involved in herding clinics so he can do what he was bred to do...which is really exciting to me! That's one of my many goals this summer:

- See if Maestro is interested in herding
- Go kayaking
- Learn to Sail (there are classes not far from where I live)
- Redeem my knitting class groupon
- Keep up with my running program (run a 10k in June!)
- Actually start saving
- Memorize Twelfth Night
- Go to Yappy Hour with Maestro
- Go swimming
- review the Japanese I learned in the fall and start practicing again
- Start reading again (Finish Bonk and the biography on Samuel Adams)
- Go to at least one new state this summer (Maybe Vermont!)

Obviously this is pretty ambitious, but I want to take time for myself this summer. Do things that make me happy and keep me inspired. I don't want to get so caught up in a routine that I forget to take care of myself. So there you have it!

Now I'm going to perform the Three Little Pigs.

Kirk Douglas dies for the love of his horse.

This weekend Katie and I performed True West. In my apartment. We transformed our upstairs living room into a performance space and invited people over.




Crazy, right?

It all began not too long ago when Katie and I were working at the Children's Museum. We were doing four shows (all of them being the Three Little Pigs) and we both knew each of the roles. We decided we would "True West" it (which meant flipping a coin to see who would play which part a la John C. Reilly and Phillip Seymour Hoffman's version of True West).

Then, jokingly, we said "Fuck The Three Little Pigs, let's just perform some Sam Shepard for these kids. Ha! Those kids wouldn't know what hit 'em". Little did we know a seed had been planted!

A couple of days later I got an e-mail from the artistic director of one of the fringe theatre companies in town. He said they were having a fundraiser called the "Live Your Dream Festival". The premise of it was that they wanted actors, singers, and musicians to do something they would never get cast in professionally. Whether it be a man playing Lady Macbeth or a white girl singing a song from Aida.

YES.

Katie and I promptly signed up, enlisting Terry to direct us.

We got together and read through the entire play in order to pick a scene to do. During this reading we had an epiphany: "Let's just do the whole goddamn play. And let's do it in our apartment".

We'd always talked about "apartment theatre" and how much fun it would be to just use our own place as performance space. And True West was IDEAL for this sort of setup.

So we did.

There's more, though.

The Live Your Dream Festival was a week ago (Sunday and Monday night). On Sunday night we did the scene as we had been rehearsing it all along (Me as Lee and Katie as Austin). And on Monday we switched roles. I had never rehearsed as Austin and she had never rehearsed as Lee. All we did was memorize the lines.

And somehow. It worked. We were forced to play it moment by moment. Without preparation we had nothing to fall back on but each other. And it was goddamn thrilling! I had no idea what Katie was going to do and she had no idea what I was going to do and it just felt right.

It went so well, in fact, that we decided (during celebratory drinks afterwards) we would do this for REAL. We'd learn both parts and flip a coin to decide who would play which role.

I'd chalked it up to drunken ambition until Katie and I had the following text exchange the morning after:

Katie - We still doin this crazy thing?
Me - I think so! I just woke up.
Katie - me too. I just mean should I start working on it? it wasn't just a dream?
Me - I think it's our destiny

And with that we had four days to learn the lines for the opposite part. I started dreaming in lines from the play. Waking up thinking about a different scene everyday. Feverishly whispering the words to myself and frantically playing back voice recordings in hopes that I would just absorb it all.

But I wanted to do it. Just to see if I could! Just to see if WE could.

Saturday night rolled around and we had somewhere between 15 and 20 people show up for the show. It was so inspiring! To see these people coming to our apartment to support us in this completely over the top endeavor. These people who wanted to see if we could actually pull this shit off!

Terry asked "Who would like to flip the coin?" and Mary-Liz (a co-founder of another theatre company in Boston) raised her hand with a quiet authority and said "I will".

She flipped it. And of COURSE it landed on the side where I would be playing Austin and Katie would be playing Lee:



I should add one other thing. We decided on a safe word if we forgot a line (this was only allowed if we were playing the parts we hadn't rehearsed). If we forgot a line we would say "Ding!" and Terry would feed it to us.

What I can say about that night is it's one of those most exhilarating performances I've ever been a part of. The stakes were SO HIGH because we had no idea what was going on. All we knew is we had to tell this story. And we knew the story. And we knew each other. And we knew these characters.

So we did it. We got through it (and with minimal dings!). And we were there for each other. Saving each other if we couldn't remember a line. Powering forward even if we weren't sure what was going to happen next.

It was a blur, but I loved it. And the audience was brilliant. They were so supportive and right along for the ride. The power went out because I plugged in too many toasters and Katie spilled beer all over the place and jelly got all over the floor. But that's what made it great. The uncertainty. And the things that went wrong or could have gone wrong.

I felt so lucky. That I had all of these friends around me who were willing to let me do this. Who were willing to play with me! It made me feel full.

The next day Katie and I played the parts as we'd rehearsed them:









And you know what? It wasn't as chaotic or crazy as the night before, but I still had a blast. I realize...I love those characters. I loved getting to say Sam Shepard's words. I loved getting to see things from both of their perspectives. Lee and Austin were probably my favorite characters to play...ever. Maybe one day I will go into more depth about what I think about the play or the characters or blahhhdy blah, but to be honest...I don't want to intellectualize it right now. All I know is I got to express something as those two guys that I don't ever really get the chance to express in my day to day life. Something that felt true to me. And that's what it's about, I think.

This weekend I learned that cheap, exciting, and accessible theatre is COMPLETELY possible. All you need is the drive to do it. And friends to support you. That's all. I got more fulfillment from performing for less than 20 people in my apartment then I've gotten in a long, long time. And I think that's pretty special.

We men may say more, swear more, but indeed our shows are more than will.

Memorizing one of my scenes from Twelfth Night for the Fundraiser on Thursday night. We're hauling ass to Ocean City for one glorious night of Shakespeare boozin n' schmoozin'. Hopefully we can raise some cash moneyz to get this bad boy up and running!

And here is documentation of THE BLONDE! Before (well, more like during) and after.



Woo! I've got to say, I've been enjoying it! It's nice to mix things up. I think I'm going to have to get a hair cut, though, now that my show is over. Aside from the blonde my hair is pretty damn boring. We'll see. I'm too poor to afford a hair cut right now so maybe I will offer my head to beauty school student or something.

Yesterday was awesome. I woke up. I played Portal and ate pancakes. Then Maestro and I went to the beach (he chased seagulls and tried to swim after some ducks in the water). Had True West rehearsal. Watched Game of Thrones and ate a delicious feast (Thanks, Conor!). Done. Best Monday ever.

Today I went to yoga with Scarlett, and we decided we're going to train to run a 10k. BECAUSE WE CAN.

Tomorrow I get my bike back from the shop. Good.

That's all. Next post will probably be able gardening. I'm loving it. I just moved my lettuce, cucumber, collard greens, and green bean seedlings outside. Please live plants. I want to eat you.

Backstage at the CWT

I am doing something a little ridiculous and writing this on my iphone. I just haven't had any time to sit down in front of a computer recently! So here we go! I plan on riddling this bad boy with all kinds of typos!!

I am backstage right now at the second to last performance of Blackadder Part II. I am only in the first scene of the first episode so I've got plenty of downtime. The audience is strangely subdued tonight. Long week maybe? Who knows? Most of our houses have been delightful. Being in this show has been such a great experience. I love working with this company. And I love being in a show filled with potty humor and dick jokes. It's refreshing!!!

Let's see. Here's the past few weeks in a nutshell:
- preparing my freedom trail tour and getting cleared to start giving tours! Yay!
- taught my final drama class (phew!)
- training class with Maestro
- lots of time at the childrens museum
- brought the vespa out of hibernation!!!
- True West rehearsals
- Blackadder, of course!
- Release of Portal 2!!!
- premiere of Game of Thrones!!!
- watching a whole lot of Brotherhood

Whew.

Last Sunday was the best. You know you've been busy when you get stoked about doing the laundry or going grocery shopping. Stop and Shop felt like heaven and clean clothes felt like an honest to god luxury. Ahh! Plus we started our garden which makes me so damn happy. I got raspberry, blackberry, and green pepper plants. And I started growing cucumbers, lettuce, collard greens, and scallions from seed! I hope things grow!!! I'm probably going to take some pictures and document the whole darn thing! I'm usually not very good at nurturing things, but we'll see. It's so satisfying to see little green things come out of the ground. Especially after such a hellish winter. Spring, let's hug!

I've also been trying to live more frugally. No more ordering in, no more take out. It's been 11 days since I've used foodler or gone out to eat. Yes! I'm also cancelling my gym membership and running outside instead (with Maestro!). And starting next week (after my bike gets tuned up) I'm avoiding public transportation as much as I can. Vespa or bike, that's it! I'm hoping this will cut down my expenses significantly so I can actually start saving money this summer. I want to travel so badly. My wanderlust is kicking (wow almost wrote licking) my ass. I love Boston and it will most likely always be my home base, but I need to go someplace new for a little while. It doesn't have to be now, but I need to feel like I am working towards seeing more of the world. And I'm sick of living paycheck to paycheck! So this is my way of taking control. I am not just going to let things happen to me, I'm going to seek them out goddamnit!

So there's that.

Oh. This is way over due, but I saw Book of Days a few weeks ago. Fuck. It was fantastic. Joe is so good. It makes me so happy to watch him act. The entire ensemble was spot on and it just made me feel so many things. It was a very fufilling night of theatre. One day I hope to be a part of a show that has an effect like that on someone. Even just one person.

I will post some pictures when I get to a computer! Only one more episode to go before curtain call...i think I'll get some reading in!

Drink wine and screw.

Lots and lots has happened this week, but what I really want to talk about is the Queens of the Stone Age concert I went to. Not that I even have anything of interest to say other then FUCK, I had an amazing time. I was just so goddamn happy. There is nothing like hearing them live. I dragged Joe to the front of the standing room because I refused to be far away. I'm so happy I did. It's goddamn intoxicating. The audience was so strange though! So still. and quiet. For a rock concert. why? It's meant to be enjoyed! Meant to be danced to! who cares though? I felt great.

just. yes. It was so nice to not be thinking about anything. To just share this amazing experience with Joe. I had missed him so much this past week and it made me so happy to just be with him and have an amazing time. It was a really wonderful weekend that I'm so thankful for.

We also got to see a play together on Friday night and dinner in the North End on Sunday night. It was basically a weekend of awesome dates!!!




On another note Blackadder opens in LESS then two weeks!!!

Rehearsal yesterday went so well. We worked on the episode where I only have like, five lines, yet I was STILL struggling with the accent. What the hell? Ha! A couple of rehearsals ago the Assistant Director (who is ACTUALLY British) helped me with my accent and it made me feel so much better. Well, yesterday was the first day our director saw the accent work the AD had done with me and felt a lot better about the scene! YES. It's so a great feeling to know that even though I only have a very small part in that scene I'm still getting worked with on it. Nobody cares that it's a small part, they still want it to be GOOD and they want me to feel comfortable doing it! It's so nice. It makes me feel really fortunate to be working with these people.

ALSO. I have to go BLONDE for this show. YES. I'm going to be bizarro Chelsea.

Oh god, I want to go into detail about last week but it whooshed by so quickly. Some bullet points.

- Saw My Wonderful Day. V. funny show. Great premise.
- Helped Kyler with Twelfth Night Auditions (that was awesome)
- Did some Freedom Trail training for seven hours in the bitter, bitter cold. However, found out I made a really, really great hourly wage so I feel GREAT.

Man, I've been drinking wine this evening so I'm done with writing in this thing, but HEY. wine is great. life is good. I'm at another point in my life where I'm restructuring how I live. And that's good. always figuring things out. yessss.

Aren't Sundays supposed to be lazy?

Not that I'm complaining!

It's been a strange wack-a-doo week. I've felt inconsistent. Unable to focus. But I've also felt great about some things and tense about others. But! There are grand things afoot. And I like that. Of course! Oh! And surreal. There have been some surreal moments this week. Like leg puppetry. We all need a little leg puppetry in our lives! More on that later.

We've finally settled on a space for Super Land and I'm fucking giddy about it! I've really, really wanted to see this play happen for numerous reasons. It's a new work! It's campy! It's different! It's fun! It's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see happen in starting our little theatre group. And now we've got something tangible to work towards. Ah! Yes!

Wednesday night Conor and I went to help out my friend Veronica by filming her leg puppetry performance. It was so neat:



She had trap door made in the ceiling so she could rig a climbing harness right above it, that way she was able to dangle her legs through the trap door and use her legs as individual puppets. Each of her legs was a specific character and it was goddamn adorable. The concept was really delightful and she pulled it off so well! There's something really bizarre and wonderful about seeing legs coming out of the ceiling. After awhile I forgot that those legs were even attached to a body, which I guess is the remarkable thing about puppetry...!

On an unrelated note I just spun around in my chair and saw Maestro passed out on his back in my doorway. I love when he does that. He becomes Sleepy Guardian of the Hallway!!!

Back to leg night. On our way out we made sure to grab a picture of this wonderful sign:



Kids must love going to Dr. Butts.

Maestro had his second class and I was really proud of him. Even though he was kind of a prick at the beginning I found his response to the work we did in class really rewarding! She had us put all of our dogs in crates for the class and for the first few minutes Maestro was fine, but then all of a suddenly he was like "Waiiiit a second, what?!" and he started barking his fool head off. I was persistent and I kept telling him quiet/pulling his leash then walking away. Eventually he finally started listening! And then I was able to give him a treat every time I looked over and saw he was lying down quietly! I was so proud of him for figuring it out and responding to me. We've been continuing the crate work at home and he's just getting better and better. I really do love my little guy.

After class I went out for Megan's birthday (which also happens to be St. Patrick's Day) and got way too drunk (I didn't even drink THAT much! Shows how much of a lightweight I've become...). I think because I've been so busy lately and I've been thinking about so many damn things that I haven't had time to really think about how I feel right now. So when I got drunk it was just this wild wave of emotions. All over the place of course! I had a good cry, good laughs, good rants. Although, I really don't like having little control over myself. Ah, well! Can't regret a good night. This is why I could never really be an alcoholic! Getting drunk takes waaaay too much out of me and it makes me not want to drink for a little while.

Friday was a wonky day because of the whole drinking-the-night-before thing and I never quite got my equilibrium back that day. I did, however, go to see Katie's show "Alice in Bed". I was so proud of them. It was one of those things where they were like "let's just put on a play" and they did. The script wasn't my favorite, but it didn't really matter because all of the actors were great. Especially Katie.



Saturday my friend Emily e-mailed me a way to get free tickets to The Donkey Show, which is a re-telling of A Midsummer Night's Dream through DISCO!

It was a blast. If I could sing I would want to be in it SO BADLY. I danced so hard.

Note: I'd been working on this post and got distracted and never posted it. It's hard to finish now because I started writing it so long ago so I'll just post as is! Who cares?!

Castle Island!!!!

One of my favorite people in the world came to visit this weekend:



(Hank, the dog, came to visit this weekend too. He was also fun...despite being an idiot). Emma lives in New York City and I really can't even begin to tell anyone how much I miss her. She has this way of making everyone around her feel like they are filled with potential and wonder. Whenever she's around I'm so receptive and positive about everything that's going on. She's just a genuinely good person and I'm really lucky to know her.

Sorry, Emma, It's TRUE!!!

We had a great weekend. Friday night we saw Prometheus Bound, I'm too lazy to go into any sort of in depth review at the moment, but it was definitely something! One thing I will say is it really pissed me off that all of the actors were brought in from New York City. It's such a bitch slap to all the professional actors working in Boston who could have EASILY played the roles in that show. Why give the limited amount of paid acting gigs in Boston to people who don't even live there? It's shit. Now that's not to say the actors they cast weren't good, of course they were!! But they weren't so good that it justified going to New York for them. Come on.

Anywho! The next day I had an early Stage Door show.



After the show I came home and I rallied the troops. It was the first beautiful day in AGES and there's one thing you MUST to do on a beautiful day in these parts...and that's go to Castle Island! Castle Island is, well, not REALLY an island because it's now connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. But it's about 3 miles away from where I live and you can walk all the way along the beach to get there. It really is a beautiful walk.

So we took the dogs (Hank and Maestro) and began our journey. I let Maestro off leash for a little bit on the beach and he ran into the ocean!! Only for about thirty seconds or so, but it was wonderful. I ran down the beach and he chased after me. best.

It was just nice to be outside on a beautiful day with my friends.

I feel like I didn't really appreciate a gorgeous day in California because it's almost ALWAYS nice out there. In Boston? First sunny day above 50 degrees and EVERYBODY is outside. It's like the entire city comes out and shares the simple pleasure of nice weather.



Sunday I worked all day with Andres (it was great), and Emma left (bummer).

Hmm, I already I have to leave soon so some bullet points.
- still don't think I'm cut out to teach a class of eight 3 - 5 year olds, ha!
- looked at a space to put Super Land up in, went very well! A definite possibility.
- Sunday night beer + rock band = bliss!!!!
- I need to get With These Hands back on track.
- Saw House of Yes, solid production
- Just need to see My Wonderful Day and Bear Patrol, whew.

There!

Reasons to be Pretty and how I almost lost my keys

Today I saw Reasons to be Pretty by Neil Labute.

Now, I read this play in college, and I have to say I'm a waffler when it comes to Labute. Some of his plays I love (Mercy Seat, Bash). Others I could take or leave. I thought reasons to be pretty was one of these plays. When I read it I thought it was stupidly shallow and mundane. Nothing special. Just a bunch of characters cursing at each other and fighting over stupid shit. It didn't seem like something that could be emotionally compelling to me.



After seeing it last night all of that changed. What a wonderful, wonderful performance. I was completely sucked into the play and the two hours flew by. Conor went with me and he turned to me right after curtain call and said "That's the end?! It went by so quickly!".

All of the actors were perfectly cast and I hated all of the characters for one reason or another. Steph was an over indulgent drama queen, Greg was a lazy intellectual, Kent was a capital D douche bag, and Carly was a vapid moron.

But even though I thought all of these people were AWFUL I still felt horrible for them. Except for Kent. When he got the shit beat out of him towards the end of the show I practically cheered.

The show was so goddamn truthful. Women really DO get upset about things like being called "regular" by their boyfriends and they DO have huge horrible arguments about it. It doesn't seem like it's a big deal when it's said like that, but when you're watching these painful verbal battles play out in front of you then you really feel how upsetting the situation is. I mean, nobody writes plays about petty relationship problems, but the truth is a lot of people go through it and it's cathartic to see it and know that, hey, it's real. It's part of many people's lives. So many people get trapped in these long term relationships because it's "fine" and they are afraid to be alone, but in the end, is it worth it? And maybe it's good that Greg called Steph "regular" because it gave her a reason to get out of a dead end relationship and it gave him a reason to pursue his passions in life.

Mostly the show made me thankful for the people in my life. I'm endlessly glad that I'm not dealing with drama on that level, and as painful as some of those scenes were to watch, they made me sigh with relief. "I don't know anyone cheating on their pregnant wife...Hallelujah!"

On another note, the transitions were great. All of the actors did their scene changes in character and it made them really enjoyable to watch. I made it so I didn't get taken out of the show while they were changing the set.

Really worth seeing.

I'm so glad Conor went with me! I've had trouble finding people to go see shows with lately because they are either busy rehearsing or lazy or poor or all three. But Conor and I had a great time. Before hand we went to The Beehive and were surprised to see they were having a Venetian Carnivale themed night! I got a free mask and a martini called "The Arlecchino".

Yesterday I almost lost my keys forever. Which was tragic. I had taken Maestro for a run at 7am (he was being a prick, so I was trying to wear him out) and realized they were gone. I frantically searched the ground on my route. I had gone home and given up until I realized I should go and ask in all of the stores in the neighborhood. Thankfully somebody had dropped them off at the convenience store.

This was the second time I've almost lost my "Pussy Wagon" keychain. The first time being in The Netherlands years ago. Mike said "The Pussy Wagon will always return to you. Always."

I hope that's true. I'd be pretty heart broken if I lost it now!

The Hotel Nepenthe (and dog training)

Last night I saw "The Hotel Nepenthe" done by Actors Shakespeare Project. Some of my favorite actors in Boston were in it!



What a quirky, entertaining, thoughtful show! The premise is a bit hard to explain, but essentially it's about a bunch of characters who are connected by this one hotel. There were four actors playing many different parts and they did a fantastic job of defining each individual character. Some of the strongest acting I've seen. And so very funny! The tone of the show bounced around considerably. Some scenes were noir-ish others seemed like they were right out of a slapstick comedy. Some were family drama or magical realism. All of them were engaging and all of the characters felt real. I believed them all. Even the outrageous ones!

The ending was a little bit of a cop out, but I wasn't too upset by it because I got what they were trying to say. And I liked it.

The lighting and sound design were phenomenal. The set never really changed (it consisted of four "dressing rooms" with a bunch of clothes on each rack, a podium, a bathtub, a couch, some chairs, some tvs, and some video cameras), but there were SO many locations. They had scenes take place in cars, taxis, buses, a bedroom, an elevator, a rental car agency, and a store and I was never unclear where people were. The actors made us believe it with their physicality and the lights and sound brought us the rest of the way there. For example the bus was merely one guy sitting on the couch on the opposite side of the stage from a guy sitting in a fold up chair. When he stumbled up to the guy playing the driver I really saw the bus because of how he moved and the sound effects they used. It was so simple, but so very effective!

Oh! And the show was done in an old retail space which they did a lot of neat things with! For the scene that took place in a store they just turned on the horrifying florescent lights.

There was one monologue where the actor just had to list off a ton of people and you don't really know why she's doing it until the end of the monologue, but she manages to keep you interested the entire way through. It was really lovely to watch her see each person.

I like bizarre plays that confuse me. I felt like I was putting together a puzzle as I watched and that was so goddamn fun!

Just a really unique, wonderful experience. I'm so glad I got the chance to see it and it's nice to know that Boston is doing theatre like that.



We had our first dog training class with Maestro today!

It was pretty damn informative!

Evidently it's going to be hardest for me to be "alpha dog" in our pack because female owner/male dog (male owner/female dog is the easiest) is the most difficult relationship to have authority over. If I don't train him now he's going to "think I'm his bitch" in the words of the trainer. AWESOME. So we've got to shut that down so our pup doesn't turn into a jerk.

Amusingly enough I get e-mail updates about Maestro's development. They e-mail me every time he reaches a milestone (12 weeks, 16 weeks, etc) and tell me what to expect when he's that age. I got the one for 20 weeks this morning and the sub text was basically "At this age your dog is going to turn into a huge douchebag, have fun!!". It said he's going to bark for no reason. Start marking his territory. Stop listening. etc. etc. They said the best way to deal with this is to train them daily. So! I'm thinking it was a good time to start dog classes...

Here are the things we're supposed to work on with Maestro:
- putting him in his crate at least once a day and having him sleep in it at least once a week (this is so gets comfortable in his crate, it's "his place". He can feel safe and comfortable there. That way we'll never have to worry about putting him there when we have to, we'll know he will be okay!)
- making sure he sees us eat before he does and feeding him in different places every day
- marking/rewarding good behavior that we catch him doing (good down, good crate, good sit, etc.)
- only letting him have chews in his bed or his crate
- moving his crate into a new room every 30 days until he's been in every room
- not allowed on furniture unless a person is also on it
- don't feed at the exact same time every day
- no bed (bummer...)

This also seems pretty reasonable! Next class she's going to put him one of their crates to see what progress we've made. We better get to work! We've only been really using his crate when we have to leave him alone (which really isn't that frequent considering all of the people we live with).

I really like working with Maestro. I taught him a couple of basic commands before we started class (sit, down, rollover, stay, paw), but I think this training will really help him grow into a stable, happy a dog. I really love this damn dog and I want him to have a good life because he brings me so much joy.



Now to play some Pokemon!!!!

Attempts at Gardening, A new job

I've got another job! On Tuesday I'm going to start training to be a guide on the Freedom Trail. I'm really excited because it means I will have to research a TON of U.S history. I love having any reason to learn something new. I only barely remember Mrs. Pyle's AP History Class in high school, and I haven't had any real history classes since. It will be really good for me, I think. And the pay is great! Plus tips! I've been worrying about money lately, but this makes me feel better.

Yesterday I came home after kids show rehearsal (which went...strangely, I'm not sure I like how we're being directed, there's no freedom to be creative or to find the part in your own way. I feel like it's very paint-by-numbers. There's only one way to say a particular line, one way to do a joke, etc. And I feel as if I'm blamed for not doing it right immediately, even though I can't read minds. Oh well! He's a really talented guy, and he knows what's funny, but it doesn't make me any less frustrated. It doesn't really matter because we only rehearse once a week and once I know the show I know it and I have fun performing for the kids...but...ahh. That's how I feel. And this has been the longest parenthetical in the history of mankind. I was going to de-parenthize it, but I decided I like it), and I had a blissful time.

After taking the dogs on a play date with our neighbor's dog, they passed out in my room while I played Beyond Good and Evil and had a glass of wine. Heaven. I've never played that game and it's really, really good. Very streamlined battle system. It also has wonderful music and voice acting. I've only played for about two hours, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. I love having a new game to play.



Backstage at the Children's Museum we have a board where we post things about our upcoming projects. Right now it's an example of what I lovingly call "theatre incest".

From Left to Right:
Book of Days (Anna, a friend of mine, is in this play with Joe), With These Hands (top/my web series that Andres, Joe, and the rest of my roommates are in), Rough Week (our theatre company), and The Freedom Trail (Anna works there and I'm about to start working there).

Everybody is connected in the Boston Theatre scene. It's kind of nice, actually! I adore the people that make up our little community.

My shift at the museum went really well today! The audiences were all so responsive! I really love that job in spite of my earlier bitching about rehearsal.

It was WARM today! So when I got home from work I came and told Lauren "Let's plant some BULBS!".

So we did. This is what we started with:



There was dog poop, dead leaves, trash, and all sorts of other lovely goodies! I don't have an after picture yet because by the time we were done planting it was dark, but trust me, it looks a LOT better.

We planted narcissus, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and A BILLION of crocuses. I have no idea if it's going to work out. We might have planted them too early, but we're hoping for the best. C'mon flowers, BE PRETTY!

Our next goal is to start growing some vegetables from seed inside and move them out into our garden in the spring. So far I think we're going to grow lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, cilantro, chives, garlic, peppers, and various berries. I've never had a real garden before. Last summer I grew lettuce in a window box and it WOULD have been successful, but it bolted before I had a chance to harvest it. This time lettuce, I will SHOW YOU!!!

While we were hard at work these two watched us from the window:



We tried to listen to "This American Life" while we worked, but these doofuses kept knocking the iPod and the speakers off the windowsill. They're lucky they are so goddamn cute.

Mmmm. Speaking of dogs, they are napping on me right now. Mike said I was like "Queen of the Dogs" and then Lauren used the phrase "Queen of Shiba Inu". We're a classy bunch.

Plays I need to see:

A lot of plays I need to see are opening all at once. This is a reminder to myself that I have to see them before they close:

Bear Patrol - Closes March 19th
House of Yes - Closes March 20th
My Wonderful Day - Closes March 26th

Completely manageable! Just have to make sure I see one a weekend! My goal is to start writing about each of the plays I see. Too often I try to recall details of shows I saw months ago and fail miserably!




I caught Pula mid-expression and I love it. She's the most endearingly neurotic dog I've ever met. She's stayed with us before and she will not let me leave a room without her. She needs constant affection and she has so many strange needs that I don't know how to meet. I adore her though, she's a really smart girl, and I love my long walks through the Common and on the Esplanade with her.




I've been particularly giddy the past few days.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I went off my birth control? I didn't think my birth control was affecting me negatively, but I'd been on it for so long, how could I possibly tell the difference? I've just felt so...clear. Maybe it's also because I was so sick last week and my body is still delighting in being healthy. Who knows, maybe I'll wait a bit to renew my birth control prescription and see if these good feelings continue. I like it. I feel more like myself!

We had a screening of the first three episodes of "With These Hands" last night at Rodney's bookstore.

It made me so proud to see all the episodes in a row. So many people worked SO hard on all of them and all because I had a silly little idea. It's really gratifying to see that work laid out right in front of you. To know your friends made it happen.

I can't wait to start filming Episode 4. Scheduling everyone is such a bitch, but I don't care!! I want to make it happen, consarnit! I also want to get better at acting on film. I'm still not all that comfortable with it, and that definitely reads on camera. It doesn't get me down, though. I feel like the more I do it the less awkward I'll feel and the only way to get less awkward is to get more experience! So, onward!

I'm also relieved my Freedom Trail Audition is done with. I think it went pretty darn well, but I'll know for sure tomorrow if I get the job or not. It's just nice not to have to worry about preparing for it anymore.

It looks like I'm going to play Lee in True West. Of course I would play the alcoholic brother who disappears for months into the desert. Why does that feel right?! Reading for him just felt strangely natural. Ha! Maybe I just understand his type.

Either way, YES.

You gave a kick, I gave a slap

The other night I was walking home from rehearsal, and I was so goddamn happy.

It's impossible not to have fun when the show you're working on has lines like "So long suckers!! Call me if you get bored and I'll come around and kill ya!!!". It's just pure silliness and I'm ALL about that.

I also realized it was the first time in a long time where I wasn't thinking about the next thing I had to do. I was just in the present, enjoying myself, and not worrying about anything but my British accent (which is still awful, but I'm slowly improving!). It was one of those "Fuck, I love acting" moments.

Sunday I worked at the Children's Museum with Katie and we read True West backstage. I can't WAIT to start working on it. There is nothing more satisfying then playing a part where you just get to HATE somebody, especially when you start out trying so hard to hide your bubbling fury. And it's completely about the relationship between these brothers and all I'll have to do is focus on Katie because I know she's going to give me some great shit to work with.

After that I went to an Oscars Party! Hell, I don't even care about the Oscars, but why do people get so up and arms about them? "Psht, THAT Oscars was disappointing". Uh, what were you expecting? It's the oscars. There's going to be really lame jokes about the movies that came out that year and lots of celebrities in pretty dresses and awards getting handed out. I never EXPECT anything from the Oscars. I watch them if I have a reason to. Like a party. So I went, and you know what? I had a blast! They're just a reason to make our own jokes and argue over who's going to win. Good, healthy competition!

The host of the party (Kara's boyfriend Pat) had us all fill out ballots of who we thought WOULD win and who we thought SHOULD win. You'd get 1 point if you could a would win right and .5 points if you got a should win. The winners got DVDs from Pat's collection.

And I came in third! I won a copy of No Country For Old Men! Ah, the simple pleasures. After the party I picked Joe up from work and he made us midnight steaks. I love midnight steak with Joe.

On a completely different note, I am a BAD TEACHER. Holy crap. I can't even handle eight 3 -5 year olds for forty five minutes. It always starts out fine. The first twenty minutes I can engage them (especially if I read to them in a British accent), but the moment I try to get them to participate in an organized activity they FREAK OUT. Everyone starts shouting! and running! To steal a quote from Larry I become the "agent of chaos" just because I'm the drama teacher. I have no authority. They are leaping about like little monsters. It is TOO much. I don't think I can teach this age group again. And it's not their fault, it's mine. I just get...overwhelmed!

Ah! There's one little boy though who is a complete delight. He's creative, thoughtful, and enthusiastic. He loves every activity and he participates with his full being. I can tell he really, really loves pretending and it's so wonderful to watch.

But the rest of 'em? Can't do it. SORRY.

Ah well! After that was rehearsal and that sure plucked my spirits back up.

Yesterday I bought Joe Cheddar that had been aged 2 years. He's in Book of Days and his character works at a Cheese Plant and he's VERY PASSIONATE about it. So I bought Joe this cheese. It was DELICIOUS. I think we're going to get cheese of different ages and compare them.

Well. I have to do to my audition to be a Freedom Trail Guide. Ha. Ha. HA!

If I get this job I will be just like every other actor in Boston. That's FINE, though! I'm actually hoping I get it so I can learn some damn history.

American Revolution, get in me!

Where I babble about opera, pubs, and coversations on the t

Well. I'm covered in tiny, mysterious red spots. Don't know what that means. I feel GREAT so I don't know what my body is trying to pull here. I'm going to give it a few days, maybe my skin is just confused. Who knows? Bodies.

Wednesday was beautiful. Took the pup with me on all my dog walks. He was exhausted by the end of it all and could barely keep his eyes open when we got home. I love watching his battles with sleep.

That night Lauren and I went to see "Cardillac" a German opera! Terry was assistant stage managing the show and got us into the dress rehearsal for free.



This set actually looks nothing like the set of the show we saw, but I thought it looked pretty goddamn neat. That's not to say the set of the production we saw wasn't great. There were lots of huge set pieces that got pulled up and down into the fly space.

My favorite thing was that there were two scrims that made a v shape and they did all sorts of shadow work with them. That was probably one of the most visually awesome things about the production.

Opera is great, because it's so bizarre. The plot of this opera was not unlike an anime (the subtitles probably enhanced this feeling!). It was about a man who created amazing jewelery. The most beautiful jewelery in all the land. He sacrificed his relationship with his daughter for his work. Meanwhile his daughter was falling deeply in love with a random officer. Oh, and of course, anyone who bought his jewelery wound up brutally murdered. Crazy, eh?!

All the performers were unbelievably talented. As silly and over the top as the story was I couldn't help but be in awe of those performers. I will never be able to do anything like that and it's so heartening to watch people doing the thing that they specialize in.

The production was in the Cutler Majestic, the main stage of Emerson College. I never got to perform there because they mostly host musicals and operas.

At the end of the run the performers pulled the Stage Manager and my roommate (the Assistant Stage Manager) on stage to take a bow. My roommate sent me a text afterwards that said "It took five years, but I finally took a bow in the Cutler".

Goddamnit. Warmed my heart!

Last night it snowed. I was walking towards the train after work when Caleb (Joe's best friend from kindergarten) called me and invited me to join him on a pub crawl. I was feeling impulsive so I decided to meet up with them. When I arrived I was immediately handed a free Guinness. Not bad! It was nice to just talk to him for a little while. It turns out his friend's coworkers got invited on this random VIP pub crawl because they were regulars at some bar. Not a lot of people showed up so I had no problem sneaking aboard. I was very out of place, but I didn't mind. Sometimes it's nice to be out of my element.

The bus ride to the next pub was like being back in high school. They blasted some hip hop jams from the 90s. Including gems like "Peaches and Cream". Caleb and I invented a new dance movie "The Carousel". It's exactly what it sounds like.

After that I went home to my pup.

I've noticed that Maestro gives strangers a way to start conversations with me on the t.



Two of my favorite conversations recently are as follows:

1) A woman who stopped me and told about a series of mystery novels written by a woman and co-authored by her cat named Sneaky Pie Brown. The cat in the story has a noble corgi companion who evidently helps her solve these mysteries. I really think I ought to pick up one of these books:



At the end of our conversation she says "I have an Irish Setter, so we both of Celtic dogs!". Delightful!

2) A wonderful middle aged couple. They stopped to ask about Maestro because they, too, had a corgi and they adored the breed. We talked the entire train ride and they showed me a video of their dog named Gertie. They were looking to get another corgi so I told them about Luann, Maestro's breeder. They also had a cat named Maeybe (yes, after Arrested Development!) who used to get to near the oven and Gertie would herd her away to protect her. I love that. They really seemed like the nicest people.

Interactions like that make me love living in a city.

Near our apartment there is a horrible intersection with about five different streets all converging. We always expect to see some awful accident happen there, but we never have. Until today.

A cop car drove through the intersection with his sirens on and a car smashed into it. Whoops! We saw the whole thing. It didn't seem like anybody was hurt, but jesus, bad day for everyone involved.

Now I'm home and watching the roommates play Marvel vs. Capcom. A game I will NEVER be good at. Ha!

Tonight Scarlett and I are going to read Twelfth Night. She's my Olivia. I'm so fucking excited to do some Shakespeare with her. I really want to kick this part's ass. I want to get in shape so I can book it across the beach at top speed and still spit out some verse. I get to work with some of my favorite people in the entire world and I couldn't be more thankful for that. I kind of wish it were September now, but I know I have a lot of things to do before then.

Like go to California and road trip back. That's right. Joe, Maestro, and I are going to have epic summer roadtrip 2011! Adventures. We'll have them.

I've wanted to do a cross country road trip for so long. I miss traveling, and I can't believe I finally get to do it again.

Even though money is tight, and I'm struggling to get by, it's really refreshing to know things like this are still possible.

Days without a voice

It's the time of year! Where illness strikes. Last Wednesday I got stupidly sick. Chills, sore throat, phlegm, the WORKS. Went to the doctor. Got antibiotics. They helped, but then my voice disappeared.

Which was frustrating. As I had several shifts at the childrens museum I had to get covered. Less money. I'm already poor, for god sakes! I had a nightmare that my voice was gone forever and that I would have to tell my friend Kyler I couldn't do Twelfth Night. Then I had to quit all of my jobs that involved acting. Then I realized I wouldn't be able to do any shows. ever. It was alarming, but it really made me remember that I do love acting. I wouldn't know what to do without it.

I wound up puttering about like a pathetic creature for a couple of days. Whispering in a creepy voice. Making me only really want to say things I really needed to say. At some point we had a meeting for Rough Week. Since I had to whisper, everyone else lowered their voices without realizing it. It ended up making us all quiet, respectful, thoughtful. It was actually kind of great.

Then on Friday, my dog walking boss called me. She got into some kind of accident and I still have no idea what the details are. She's okay, she's out of commission for a week or so, but it meant that I had to dog sit Roxy all weekend. Roxy is an eight month old golden retriever. She and Maestro adored each other and played non stop. She stayed with us all weekend while I slowly regained my voice. I really loved having Roxy over, it made me want to get another dog eventually. I just love having animals in the house.



One day of recovery was spent splitting my time between watching the original Star Wars Trilogy and playing Call of Duty. The other was spent with my awesome cousin, Ben. He was in town and he taught me how to play online poker and I showed him the joys of Words with Friends. When Joe got home from work he made us midnight steaks. It was glorious.

Monday I went on a whirlwind trip to New York City. We went to a Moth Story Slam in Brooklyn. We got to see some of my favorite people in the world. I wish I could see them more often. They really inspire me as an actor and they make me feel full.




The Story Slam was fantastic. The theme was Danger! and we heard stories about:
hunting geoducks, growing up Jewish, teaching in Philadelphia, childhood fights, raising ducklings, wedding pranks, and belgian brawls.

The story that won was brilliant. It was about a young woman faced with eating a plate full of raw pig skin prepared for her by her Honduran host mother. She told it with such honesty and boldness.

There was one man who had clearly made his story up and was doing some sort of sub par stand up act. He was the only one that was truly disappointing.

I want to be a good live story teller. I feel like I have some really fantastic stories, but I'm not the best at telling them. That's something to strive for, I think. I really do love listening to people's stories! It tells you so much about them.

After the Moth we headed back to Kyler's apartment. Devoured pizza. Went on a midnight walk to Central Park. Played Maryland Family Fun Game into the wee hours of the morning. The rules of Maryland Family Fun Game are as follows:

Everybody writes down 3 or 4 things on slips of paper. It can be ANYTHING. A quote, song lyric, random string of words, a single word, a list, random sentence, absolutely anything.

Then you split into two or three teams depending on how many people are playing. We had two teams of three.

Everybody puts their slips of paper into a hat. Then one person from a team is selected to go up first. They have two minutes. They take a slip of paper out of the hat and they can say or do anything to get their teammates to say the words on the slip. The only rule is you can't say any words that are on the paper and you can't say "rhymes with _____".

When that team runs out of time the next team goes. They keep switching back and forth until all the slips in the hat are gone. Then Round 2 starts. Round 2 is essentially just charades. Same deal, each team gets two minutes to act out slips from the hat until they are all gone.

Then Round 3. Round 3 you can only say one word or use one gesture to get your team to say the exact things on the slip.

It's a blast! At the end of each round you count up how many slips your team earned and that's how many points you get.

We played until about 3 in the morning. Then we watched Cash Cab and The Dog Whisperer until we fell asleep.

Yesterday I came home. On the bus ride home Joe sent me this:



Our animals love watching Joe poop.

I always love coming back to Boston. It just feels right. I stupidly forgot my dog walking keys even though I had to go straight to work from the bus station, but Joe met me and brought them. He's pretty swell. We ended that day with wine, slings and arrows, and fetch with our pup.

Now I'm back and finally healthy!! Tonight I'm going to an open dress of an opera my roommate assistant stage managed for.

Ah! And I got to have coffee from the Sugar Bowl today. I LOVE THAT PLACE.

Life right now!

In high school and college I had a live journal. I haven't posted in it for ages, but every couple of months I read my friends pages. Very few people still post in their live journals.

The people who do are great! I love reading about their lives. I like checking in on them, seeing what's happened since I last read. The thing is I still care about all of them even if we don't talk anymore (or if we just don't talk often).

I don't know why I stopped posting. I think I got lazy. Or distracted. Or busy. Or maybe I didn't want people on the internet to know what I was thinking anymore (maybe I didn't think it was important). Ha! Maybe I had prescribed to the mentality of "I should be out living my life, not writing about it!!". Whatever it was, I stopped.

Today I was going through that ol' comforting routine of checking up on old friends when I got to a post written by Maddy, this is what it said:

"I truly wish that people were still interested in text-based blogging vs. the random-cool-picture-and-video-with-few-w

ords blogging. Seriously. I miss reading everyone's thoughtful day-to-day. Albeit petty, at least it required more memory exercise and composition than "downforsatan reblogged this. scumbucket reblogged this. kittymeowmeow reblogged this."

fuckkkkk."

YES. I thought. That's why I continue to check live journal. I want to know people's day-to-day. I want to know what kind of lives they lead. It makes me feel connected to my past somehow and it makes me really appreciate all of the people who have ever been a part of my life.

So this blog is for Maddy.

I'm going to post about my day-to-day life. It might not be that exciting and I might not have anything too insightful to say, but heck, it will make me stop to appreciate the life I'm leading. I want to have something for myself to look back on. I hardly remember what happened a few days ago and I don't like that, goddamnit!

That being said, here are the basics of my life right now:

I live in Boston.
I'm an actor.
I have many part time jobs:
1) dog walking
2) drama teacher at the Jewish Community Center (I'm really bad at teaching).
3) actor at the Boston Children's Museum
I live with four people, a dog, and a cat.
The people are my boyfriend (Joe), Lauren, Terry, and Pete (Pete is a girl).
The dog is Joe's and mine. His name is Maestro and he's a corgi (http://mrmaestro.tumblr.com).
The cat is Lauren's. His name is Tasuki and he's orange and crotchety.
I'm in a staged version of Season 2 of Blackadder right now. I'm playing Kate/Bob and Mollie the inexpensive prostitute.
I've been in the following shows since graduating college: Wedding at the Eiffel Tower, Act a Lady, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Doctor in Spite of Himself/Amphitryon, Cherry Smoke, and Durang/Durang.
I helped start a theatre company called Rough Week. We've put up two shows.
I created a web series called With These Hands (http://www.roughweek.org/wth).
Maestro starts dog training classes next week.
I play video games.

That's it. Those are the bare bones!

Recently I went to an album release party. They performed the entire album. It was a concept album about a girl visiting a magical world and being reborn and having an affair with mother nature. My favorite part was when people dressed as skeletons came dancing down the aisles while playing the drums.

Today I woke up and walked the dog. Joe got us coffee from the Sugar Bowl. I went to walk Gus (the french bulldog), Pula (the border collie/cattledog mix), and Rascal and Kiwi (two pugs). Then I went to rehearsal for "The Charlie Tales". A kids show I'm touring around the Boston area. It takes common fairy tales and puts a Boston spin on them. ie. Instead of the Three Billy Goats Gruff we do the Three Red Sox Fans Gruff.

It's pretty fantastic. I've also gotten to meet a lot of wonderful people doing it.

Then I went to the gym (for the first time in weeks!), and now I'm home. Hanging out with the pup and writing this blog post.

Let's see if I can keep it up!