Radio Silence

Lots of nothing has been happening since I last wrote.  Jeannie's Mom was here for a visit, Romeo and Juliet has opened for both high school matinee-ers and regular audiences, Samuel has talked talked talked, Anna has grown grown grown (she's started smiling and is close to laughing).

I feel pretty worn out.  I need a day of sleep and quiet and rest and no thinking.

Getting ready for the show this summer.  It's mostly designed and the budget is mostly worked out, and now all that's left is just to bust the thing out come Memorial Day weekend.

Been watching the Netflix show Bloodline.  Intriguing so far, although I feel like it needs to start answering some of the questions it's been raising or it's just going to get tedious.

8-10

Every day I look forward to 8pm to 10pm.  Samuel usually goes to bed around 8pm (although these days it seems to stretch onto 8:30 territory.  He stretches it out, needing a drink of water, wanting to sleep on the floor [which we've been indulging, as we transition into the big-boy bed], wanting to rock in the rocking chair for a minute), and then Jeannie and I watch an hour or two of TV, and sometimes eat dinner, and sometimes fold laundry, and catch up a little bit.  It is the only oasis in days that seem to be comprised entirely of uphill climbs.

Life has really felt that way for the last week or two -- maybe because I've been sick or just tired, but everything seems to require an inordinate amount of work and effort.  Today I just feel like I don't have enough in me to keep everything going.

So -- I'm having an extra G&T, and I'm listening to this song and gonna watch a little snippet of this movie, and then I'm gonna go to sleep.  And then tomorrow let's do it again.

Flemington

About once a month for the last 5 months or so I've been driving up to Flemington, New Jersey with a U-Haul to pick up or return furniture that we've rented for a production.  There's a props house there that services the NYC area and I can browse their stuff online and it saves me a lot of time because I don't have to go all over shopping for cheap Victorian furniture or thrones or anything like that.  Unfortunately, I haven't found anyplace like this closer than Flemington, NJ, which is about three hours away. 

I've made the trip enough times now that I've got a bit of a routine:
1.  I go to the U-Haul near my house on Belair Rd.  They have a billion trucks there and are very nice, although I always feel like they suspect me of being up to illegal, immoral, or nefarious shenanigans when I tell them I'm going to be going an estimated 350 miles.

2.  I load the truck at the theater (if I'm returning furniture).

3.  I get on 95 and point myself Northward.

4.  I turn on the danciest bubblegum pop radio station I can find (104.3 near Baltimore and 106.1 when I cross the Susquehenna and am closer to Philly) and I listen to it all fucking day.  I am gauranteed to hear Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and Rihanna at least 6 times each.

5.  I stop at McDonalds for breakfast. If they have any sort of BOGO breakfast sandwich deal I go hog wild.

6.  I keep listening to that dance music and hours of those terrible pop radio commercials until my brain liquifies and slips right out of my head and onto the floor of the U-Haul. 

7.  At Exit 2 in NJ I head West on some lovely little semi-rural backroads that make you understand why it's called the Garden State. 

8.  I reach Flemington - which is a little bit of a quesy mixture of charming historical old town and sprawly strip mall suburbia - get to the props house, and unload (or load) the truck.  (One of the people that works there looks exactly like Mario from Super Mario Bros.)

9.  I turn the truck around and point it South and Eastward. 

10.  I get back on 95 as quick as I fucking can. 

11.  I stop at a gas station (somewhere south of the NJ/Pennsylvania line, but north of Philadelphia) to pee, get a Gatorade and a small bag of Doritos.

12.  I contemplate stopping at every damned casino I see (Parx in Philly, Delaware Park [or something like that] and Hollywood casino in Delaware) but I never do. 

13.  I get back to the Baltimore area and unload the truck at the theater if it (the truck) is loaded, if it ain't I just return the truck to the U-Haul on Belair Rd. near my house.

14.  I go home.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM THESE TRIPS:

1.  The Susquehenna River is really beautiful and I always enjoy driving over it.

2.  The area just south of Philadelphia looks like something from an old movie where the future is presented as polution-y and dystopian and terrible.  (Sections of Baltimore also look like this)

3.  I prefer my bubblegum pop to be sung by women.  Although, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, I have gone from hating Maroon 5 intensely to actually sort of enjoying some of their songs. 

Anyway, the reason this is all in my head is because I made the trip yesterday to return all the furniture rented for Vanya and Earnest.

Rusty and Gravedigger

1.  Samuel got a big boy bed today.  Napped this afternoon in it and rolled out after about 10 minutes.  Then couldn't fall asleep in it tonight and asked to be put back in his crib.

2.  Last night, in the bathtub, S asked for a story about testicles.  I started to tell him a story, and he asked that the testicles be named Rusty and Gravedigger.  (Gravedigger, I believe, after the monster truck of the same name.)

3.  Not sure what else to write about.

4.  Anna isn't doing anything interesting yet, but is putting on weight.

5.  Came up with a good nickname for Samuel:  Samela Anderson.

6.  Didn't go into work at all this weekend, which was pretty great, although I spent most of the weekend expecting an e-mail or text telling me that something had broken which would require my immediate attention and cause me to have to go into work, which prohibited my enjoyment of a work-less weekend.  Catch-22?

Jekyll and Hyde

A good day today.  It's very weird, because yesterday Samuel was the child from hell and today he was great --  happy, helpful, excited.  If everyday flip-flops like this I'm going to be a completely worn out, tired wreck within a week or two.  But anyway, today we all went out for a Target trip and then were able to get our laundry folded and put away -- which, between the birth of Anna and Samuel's sickness seemed to include every piece of child's and adult clothing that we own and everything that we keep in our linen closet.  A lot of laundry.

Earnest opens tonight, and then they're setting up for tomorrow's Vanya matinee after the show.  I'm contemplating swinging over there, although it will be late and I really need to just work on a design for Romeo and Juliet and then go to bed.

Funny kid story:  Samuel is at an age where he wants to be by himself while he's pooping.  So he will either ask you to leave whatever room you happen to be in, or he will go into the corner of some other room and just kinda hang out for a few minutes while he's crapping in his diaper.  If he's in or near the kitchen, he will say, "I need to go look at the oils," and then go to the back of the kitchen and stand in front of the shelf that has our cooking oils on it and then shit.  So in our house, "I need to go look at the oils," will, I think, enter the vernacular as code for #2.

I'm a little worried about Anna's eyes.  She doesn't seem to focus on anything.  I can't remember if that's normal for newborn's or if I should just assume she's blind.  I'm not going to worry about it until told to by a child's health professional.  She had her first pediatrician appointment on Wednesday and they said she looks fine, so that's what I'm going on now.  I think she has another appointment next week.

Today I had pea soup for the first time in years.  I love pea soup!

2X the FUN. 2X the LOVE.

So far, having 2 kids is NO FUN.  It has been made more NO FUN by the fact that #1 child has been sick and throwing up every other night, and that he has not been to the babysitter in a few days.  And really, he's just at an age where he's a big ol' dick.  Pardon the expression.

#2 child hasn't been too bad, although really Jeannie is the one that shoulders pretty much all of her demands thus far.  It has been nice having a warm, soft newborn to cuddle with for the last few days.  And really, she just sleeps, and eats, and poops, and then squeals until you rock her back to sleep.

I have no idea how the juggling of work and the demands of these 2 children is going to happen once Jeannie and I go back to work.  NO IDEA.

Jeanners and I are gonna eat and watch Downton now.

Anna Begins

Okay, let's talk about how Anna got here.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, I got a call from Jeannie while I was shopping for black fabric for Earnest in Joann Fabric.  She was crying (which scared the hell out of me) and said that at her midwife appointment that morning, they had found protein in her urine and were sending her to the hospital to possibly be induced.  Protein in the urine, by the way, is an indicator of preclampsia, which Jeannie had with Samuel and which is life-threatening and  makes the delivery process more dangerous and considerably more shitty. 

So I told her I would meet her at the hospital and about 20 minutes later we met at the hospital (St. Joseph's).  We sat in the triage area of the Labor and Delivery floor while a nice nurse named Catie (I think that's how it was spelled on her nametag) did some tests and filled out a lot of paperwork and chatted us up.  She said our midwife (Bela) would take a look at the test results and decide whether to send us home or to admit us and induce labor.  About 2 and a half hours went by while we waited, and I dozed and Jeannie chilled out a bit, and her blood pressure was going down nicely (dangerously high blood pressure is another fun factor of preclampsia) and we both kinda figured they would just send us home, when at around 2pm we got word that they were going to admit Jeannie and induce.  They figured that since she was already showing signs of preclampsia then there was no point in sending her home and risking the possibility of her seizing at home (seizures come with preclampsia, too). 

So they set us up in Rm 7 of Labor and Delivery, and let us know that they were going to put Jeannie on magnesium sulfate, which is what she was on with Samuel and it really sucked and made the whole thing sucky and all the nurses make grim faces when they talk about magnesium.  It also means she has to be hooked up to all kinds of things and has to stay in bed the whole time and can't eat real food and  can't drink water.  So we kinda dreaded hearing that, but were also kinda half expecting it. 

Despite the contrary advice of the nurses, doctors, and midwife, Jeannie decided she didn't want an epidural. 

And eventually the shitty nurse who wouldn't let Jeannie have ice chips and who talked about "unnatural bed positions" went home and Alicia (Elisha?), the cooler nurse who let Jeannie have ice chips and eventually helped deliver Anna, came on.

To make a long story short, they checked Jeannie out and were going to give Jeannie pitocin to induce labor, but then the midwife decided to wait and see how Jeannie progressed on her own.  Ended up being a good decision,  because things ended up progressing pretty well on their own, and because Jeannie wasn't so drugged up this time with pitocin and epidurals and spinal catheter pain meds the way she was with Sam, she was able to labor much more on her own terms.  Plus, we had a  doula there, Jennifer, who was really good at keeping Jerns calm and focused and less-uncomfortable. 

I generally don't like woo-woo ness, but I'm really kind of in awe of people who can pull off being woo-woo but also normal and who can make it work.  Jennifer is kind of like that.  Little bit woo-woo, but totally grounded and practical and hard work. 

So yeah, then Jeannie labored.  In a pretty straight-forward, labor-y kind of way, with all the shittiness and pain that labor entails.  But there were some moments where she had a total earth-mother-goddess thing going on, which is a part of her that I've never really seen before but which was completely awe inspiring and powerful. 

And she labored for many hours until 1:12 in the morning on Friday and then a baby was born, and when the nurses said the word "girl" we were completely shocked and surprised and happy.  I've always wanted Jeannie to have a girl to bond with.

And after the baby was born there was concern for her lungs, which ended up going away after a few hours as her breathing improved.  And there was concern that Jeannie has lost too much blood (2 liters) so they gave her a blood transfusion.  But those concerns went away, too, as time went by and everything stabilized. 

So --

Where we stand now: 

1.  Jeannie and Anna are at the hospital.

2.  Samuel and I are stuck at home after attempting to visit the hospital this afternoon during a snowstorm (6+ inches of new snow) and taking an hour to just get around the block and barely make it back home.

3.  Samuel's been puking tonight.

4.  Jeannie's at a hospital with reduced nurse and food staff because of the storm. 

5.  Jeannie scheduled to be released  tomorrow (Sunday), hopefully Sam and I can make it to the hospital tomorrow after plowing has taken place.

Welcome, Anna!  Your arrival has been quite an adventure, and we're glad you're here.

New Excavator

Samuel got a new toy excavator and new toy loader today.  They were given to him by his new baby sister, Anna.

Perfect night

1.  Snow
2.  Fire in fireplace
3.  Kid in bed
4.  Dishes washing in dishwasher
5.  Gin and tonic
6.  Cheesecake

Plumbus

I'm a pretty bad carpenter, but I'm an even worse plumber.  Jeannie and I have been making great strides in getting our kitchen in shape, but tonight had a big fail attempting to sweat some copper pipe together.  Hmmmmmm.  Feel stupid and skill-less.

Been working a bunch on Uncle Vanya.  I didn't design anything, so I thought it might be a bit of a break, but it turns out that it's been just as much work as the shows I design.  Probably because I design towards the things I know I'm able to do easily, and outside designers don't.  In the end, it's better for the company, but it makes for more work for me getting everything together.

This new baby's coming pretty soon.  I look forward to meeting him/her.

Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

Tonight I built the greatest fire in the history of Earth.  And that's a lot of damned fires.  Seriously, though, this thing just burns perfectly, and looks great, and at one point early on had almost gone out because of damp wood but I coaxed it back to life, and it really is the best ever.  I'm glad that Jeannie and Sam were here to witness it and back me up on this.

Lately I've been alternating between total stress about the upcoming 2 nearly simultaneous shows and saying "fuck it" about the 2 nearly simultaneous upcoming shows.  Today I leaned more towards the "F it" side but made progress in other areas.

Tomorrow I spend the day with the dude.  Maybe there'll be snow?  Maybe we'll play in the snow?

Eyes...sleepy.  Must....go.....sleep........

Midnight = Pumpkin

I'm officially a terrible blogger.  I can't seem to find any time to take 2 minutes to write 3 stupid paragraphs about my poops, my taint sweat, my kid, my wife, my job, or anything else that's happening in my life.  I apologize to anybody out there.  I will make an effort to do better.  Maybe I need to start writing for 15 minutes every morning when I get to work?

Last night Nyoka and her girlfriend came over for dinner and Train Gaming.  (Ticket to Ride).  I build a fire in the fireplace about an hour before they arrived, and it's the first time we've had a fire while Samuel was awake.  He spent the hour running back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, where he would tell Jeannie, "THERE'S A FIRE IN THE FIRE PLACE!  I'M GONNA GO CHECK IT OUT!"  And then he would run back in the living room.  It was pretty fun.  And it was fun having Nyoka and Faith over.

Tonight for dinner Jeannie made sausage which was fairly tasty but which is currently producing horrendous belches.

Work is ramping up towards Vanya and Earnest.  Life is ramping up towards kitchen and baby.  We need to pick out and buy a dishwasher.  When we have a dishwasher in our kitchen, finally, I think it's going to be the greatest fucking thing that ever fucked a fuck.  Forgive the language, but it's going to be so fucking fucking great that I won't even know what to fuck the fucking fuck fuck shit.  That's how great it's going to be.  We currently spend about an hour or an hour and a half in the basement, listening to podcasts, pretty much every night, washing and drying the fucking dishes and then carting them back upstairs and putting them away on bookshelves in the living room.  And there's a certain charm to that, I'll admit, and a certain "we'll look back at this one day as a great time" aspect to it, for sure, but I AM SO DAMNED OVER DOING THE DISHES.  ESPECIALLY IN THE BASEMENT.  Is that a first-world, white whine?  Probably.  Sorry.  I try to keep those to a minimum.   So I'm gonna stop this now to be on the safe side.  (but seriously I'm really tired of the dishes)

Just burped a sausage burp that was a little too close to a sausage vomit.

What else?  Tomorrow morning I'm looking forward to revamping our sound system a little bit.

Today I found this picture from right around Samuel's second birthday, almost a year ago, and I like this picture:

Wait!  The title of this blog!  The title comes from the fact that Jeannie and I stayed up until around midnight last night and as result we were completely fucking WIPED today.  Seriously.  This morning I was reading books to Samuel and would literally start falling asleep in the middle of sentences.  He would yell at me to wake up and finish what the hell I was saying.  Kinda embarrassing.  

Double Poop

So my usual wake-up-at-6:15-because-my-body-is-telling-me-I-have-to-poop routine has morphed into a wake-up-at-6:15-because-my-body-is-telling-me-I-have-to-poop-and-then-go-to-work-and-take-another-poop-at-8:15 routine.  It's weird.  Both poops are at least medium-sized, too.

Plus, my nose has been making gobs of big, juicy boogers for several months now.  The kind that are extremely satisfying to blow out.  I have conflicting feelings about it.

Putter, Putter

It's nice to have more than 5 days between shows.  Our next show doesn't open until February 13th (which is actually closer than I'm picturing in my head -- but, whatever) so I spent my day today puttering around, doing little things like getting keys made and changing light bulbs and researching doorbell/intercoms.

I'm sitting now on the bed with my legs outstretched, just busted into a tub of port wine spread cheese and popped open a box of wheat thinz, getting ready to read some Desolation Angels, my favorite Kerouac.  Not a bad way to spend an evening, although if you change Kerouac to Kingsolver I probably just described the evening routine of a lot of middle-aged cat lady lesbian types.  No offense.

My New Years' resolution is to attempt to shed some of the low-confidence induced awkwardness that has crept steadily into my life since, well, I think it started when I quit smoking.  Maybe earlier,  Maybe when I left college.  Maybe when I moved to Baltimore.  Anyway, I'm going to work on getting rid of it and work on being more confident.

Samuel is, I think, starting to understand the idea that there will be a new baby here.  Tomorrow we get to spend the day together and I think we will go to our usual haunt -- the harbor.  I'm looking forward to it, especially as it's supposed to be snowing tomorrow.  I've been itching for some snow all season.

Smart Cookie

Christmas 2014 is over.  This Christmas break has been quite a whirlwind, but still a nice vacation as well.  It's great to not be thinking about work too much, great to not be getting a zillion work e-mails every day.

Hope to catch up with the Schluetermetz' tomorrow (although I'm not sure if I've got a good cell # for them), and really looking forward to Eric E's house tomorrow night. 

Samuel has been both wonderful and terrible.  He's just a little ball of constant energy.  Really smart, really articulate, really hungry for attention. 

Remember how I've always complained about my swamp ass and my toxic ass/ball sweat?  I think I've discovered a cure (or at least a retardant):  gold bond medicated powder spray.  A shot of it up the ol' crack every morning seems to keep it pretty much in check down there all day.  I think that switching to boxers has helped, too.  Thanks for asking!

The Afghan Whigs released an album earlier this year that I had missed and started listening to last week, and really liked it.  It doesn't sound exactly like classic Whigs stuff, but if you like the Whigs and the Twilight Singers material, you'll probably like the album.  I especially like the song 'Lost in the Woods.'

Gone Girl

Today was one of the best days I've had in a long time.  My ladyfriend was off work, the little dude was at the babysitter, and since the show is pretty close to up-and-running on its own, I decided to not go into work until the evening.  So Jerns and I decided to have a Bob Evans breakfast (awesome), do a little appliance shopping, and then catch a movie.  In the middle of the day!  We saw Gone Girl, which was about 45-60 minutes too long but otherwise not bad.

It was a day that I've needed for about the last month or so.

So now I'm here in my office at the building, listening to the final preview for Christmas Carol over the monitor, and making sure nothing melts down.  The show ended up looking decent, although CC is not my favorite story in the world.

Daniel Lame-ois

Tonight I had a ticket to go see Daniel Lanois (probably in the top 3 of my musical heroes) and Brian Blade (my fave drummer) and Jim Wilson (a dude that plays bass) in DC, but instead I am skipping the concert and opting for a relaxing night at home and an early bedtime.  I hope that this fact conveys the extent to which I AM FUCKING TIRED.  I'm ready to be done with Christmas Carol, and I'm ready for a day in which I don't go to the theater, and I'm ready for a few days off in a row.

Jeanners' dad is visiting and helping with the kitchen renovation.  I feel bad because I haven't really been helping while he's been here, but I've seriously been at work the whole time.  He's doing a really good job of replacing our plumbing, though, and Jerns is doing a good job getting the walls ready for the drywallers.

I went to the doctor for a physical and I think she's got a thing for me, because she said I looked gorgeous.

Wildcrats

So Sam's new thing is that you have to call him by a new name.  And every hour or so he picks a new name.  And you have to call him that name in every sentence that you say.  The following is a non-exhaustive list of names that he likes to be called:  Mr. Moon, Lesley, Wildcrats (which is actually Wild Kratts, which is apparently some PBS kids show that he watches at the babysitter's house), Susan, Mowgli, Kaa, and Okami.

Today when we went downtown there was a parade and Sammers got to sit in a fire truck.

I am in the midst of building A Christmas Carol, which is a bit overwhelming but I am doing my best to stay un-overwhelmed.  I am making myself take every Tuesday off during the build (although I'll be working nights and weekends) to maintain a little bit of life balance.

Jeannie's Dad is coming out on Thursday to help us with some of our renovation work.  Over the weekend we tore out our kitchen counter and sink and so now we just have a stove and refrigerator in there.  I've been putting in the new electrical stuff over the past few days, and then when that's done we'll have somebody come out and do the drywall, and somebody come out and do the plumbing, and then we'll put in the new cabinets and new appliances and countertops and stuff.   This can all hopefully be mostly done before Baby #2 arrives.  Jeannie's Dad is going to help put up some trim around the house, and maybe some electrical work, and maybe some gas pipe work.

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday.  I am going to go see Daniel Lanois next Wednesday in DC.  Kinda pumped.  I'm gonna try and go way early and hang out outside and maybe get to say hi to DL or Brian Blade.  Cuz I'm a nerd like that.  But these guys are my musical heroes.

There are lots of songs in this boat.

Tonight I'm having what I like to call my "Russian Dinner," which consists of alcohol (usually beer but tonight G&T), and bread with butter.  I call it my Russian Dinner because it's what Dostoevsky always describes people having for meals in his novels:  beer and bread.  It probably goes without saying, but I usually only eat this when Jeannie is not home for dinner for some reason.  Also, it's not what Sam had for dinner.  Although I did take him with me to the liquor store today, where he gleefully told the other patrons that we were buying gin.

He has been an absolute terror at bedtime lately, probably because he was up too late because we had stuff going on.  Normal bedtime tonight, though, and he went down ok and so far hasn't woken up too much.

Last night we went to the Patterson Park lantern parade, which he loved and I enjoyed as well.  Not sure if I was gonna like it, but I had a pretty great time.

Richard II opened last night, and looks pretty good, I think, so now it's on to the next one:  A Christmas Carol.  I was feeling pretty stressed about CC, but tonight I sat down and made a build schedule and am feeling much better about it.

The Jeanners took some time off last week and was able to trim out the windows in our bedroom.  It's quite awesome.  Someday when we're old(er) and gray(er), and we finish this place, it's going to be pretty nice.  

What else?  Been feeling incredibly incredibly lucky lately.

Ricardo Dos

I'm reclining in bed right now, typing on my phone.  The Jeanners is working on work.  I had planned on going to bed tonight at like 8 o'clock, but it didn't happen.  Worked on a design for Christmas Carol instead.  It needs to be done by Friday so that they can start rehearsing on Sunday.  Not looking forward to that show, but I got some good work done on it tonight.  In a few minutes, J and I are going to watch a Friends or two and then hit the hay. 

Samuel is such a little boy now it's crazy.  He's getting so grown up.  I guess I should take this opportunity to bury the news that the Jeanners and I are going to have another baby right in the middle of this post.  (The burying of the news is happening in the middle of the post, not the having of the baby).  So we're trying to introduce Sam to the idea of having another baby around, but I don't think he gets it yet.

Been enjoying U2's new album.  It took a few listens to get into it, but now I'm thinking it's their best album since Achtung. 

What else?  Work has been busy but not crazy busy.  I guess it's a little weird that 12 hour days 6 or 7 days a week just feels normal now, but there are a few tricks that help keep things balanced:  come home for dinner and try to be home by 10.  Jerns has really been holding down the fort, though, (in addition to her job), so once this show opens I'm going to try and keep some shorter work hours.

It feels pretty darned good to be working on artistic pursuits.  I'm also really enjoying working on lighting (I had kind of been dreading it), and I like it when the sets I build end up looking lime the drawings I drew. 

Why are YOU crying?

Samuel has started telling jokes.  Like, bona fide jokes.  Knock knock jokes that he doesn't quite understand the mechanics of, and a joke for which he changed the punch line.  Joke should go like this:  Q: Why was the broom late?  A: Because it swept in.  Samuel has changed the joke to this:  Q: Why was the broom late?  A: Because it flipped over.

If you tell him the correct punchline, he says, "Noooooo, I changed it!"

Anyway, he's been cute.  We went on a trip with my folks to the beach, and had a good time.

My brain is a little scattered right now.  Hard to focus on writing.

Work has slowed down a bit, but the next two weeks should be pretty hectic as we close and strike Midsummer and open Richard II.   But it's fun.  It's fun to make a living working on shows with people that, for the most part, I enjoy working with.

Been reading the latest David Mitchell novel.  It's OK.  A little bit too sci-fi/fantasy-ish in some parts, but not bad.

done fer now

It is Finished

This picture was in some newspaper.  That might be my head in the bottom right.

I took this picture during one of the dress rehearsals.

This was during the ribbon cutting on Monday morning. 

I think this one was taken during tech because nobody is in costume. 

Wizard is About To Die

I've worked 72 hours in the last 5 days!  Only 2 more days to go this week...

Some Goddamned Peace and Quiet!

Right now I just got home from work, and the Jeanners hasn't gotten home yet from picking up Sammy-o (he's taken to calling me daddy-o, so that's what I've been calling him lately), and the house is still and quiet and it is the first quiet moment I've had to myself in a very long time.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

And now, Jeannie and Sam are home.

I'm happy to see them, too.  But I enjoyed the quiet moment. 

Excel

I'm sitting in my car waiting for the lighting supply store to open.  I need to buy some 5-pin to 3-pin DMX adapters because I don't have the time to make some myself. 

It's Friday, which feels good because there's no rehearsal tonight, which means that when I don't go to rehearsal tonight I won't be skipping it.  Because there isn't rehearsal.  Does that make any sense?  Basically, I get the feel-good benefit of not skipping rehearsal, but I also don't have to go to rehearsal. 

This conversation is a little bit moot (or "moo," as Joey says, "like a cow's opinion"), because I stopped going to rehearsals anyway.  I decided that the amount of contribution I was making at rehearsals was not worth the energy that I was expending being at rehearsals.

I'm going to stop saying any words that contain the word "rehearsal" now.

What else?  Tired mired.  That's what else.  Oh, and I wake up every morning feeling a little nauseous now.  Nerves.  I suspect it won't go away until after we open the new theater. 

Jeez!  Come on, lighting supply store, just open up already!

Sam's been pretty cute lately, for the most part.  I sure do enjoy our Tuesdays together.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

So tired.  Brain melted.  Body broken.

Neighborhood kid Tyler came over on the porch tonight, crying, and told us that he and his mom are moving out tonight.  Fairly heartbreaking.  He's 6 years old and has already had a pretty tough life, it seems.  He's been a good friend to Samuel and is a sweet kid.  I hope that somehow he ends up staying around.

Brain seriously melting.

Jeannie and I had a date last night and it was pretty great.  A nice dinner, conversation, a walk by the harbor at Fells Point on a beautiful, cool summer evening.  Love was in the air, I tell you.

Ugh.

Ugh.

I need a good, solid, two weeks off.

Bump!

What life was like today:

Got into a small fender bender.  Stopped paying attention and totally rear ended a man in town from the Philly area who was taking his daughter to look at Hopkins.  Samuel says we "bumped into another car."

Came home.  Took a nap.

Mowed the lawn.  Trimmed the sidewalk all nice.  Always feels good to trim the sidewalk, although I only do it about once a summer.

Took a shower.  Clipped toenails.  Brushed, flossed, water picked.  Always feels good to clip toenails, floss, and water pick.  Brushing feels good, too, I guess, but is done often enough that it's forgettable.

Played with the dude a little bit.

Went to Chipotle with J and the dude.  Walked through Charles Village and walked to sculpture garden outside the art museum.  Art and Fart Museum.

Came home.  Walked in the door as the sun is setting behind the lush, out-of-control-a-little-bit garden and freshly mowed lawn, with bees and other bugs swirling and hovering in the light.  Sam and Jeannie walking up the walk as I am going in the door.

Fighting with the dude to get him to brush his teeth.

Russell

Boxers have been only moderately successful in staving off the diaper rash.  Not the overwhelming success I was hoping for.  Next step --  Nair-ing my arse?  I think things would have to get pretty desperate before I take that step.  I'm hoping that once the weather cools down and I stop sweating 24 hours a day that this problem goes away on its own.

At work we hired a guy named Russell to clean the building and help out with stuff.  Russell is a guy who worked as a temp for the construction company, hauling stuff, cleaning, and pretty much just taking care of the crap work that nobody else wants to do.  The guy works like a horse and is a really thoughtful, soft-spoken man.  As construction was wrapping up he approached me and said that when this job was over he wasn't sure if he was going to have another temp job and that he was really interested in cleaning the building for us.  Over the course of the last year I had gotten to know him a little bit and liked him a lot, so I asked around to find out if anybody on the work site knew of any reason why we shouldn't hire him.  Everybody raved about him, saying what a hard worker he is and all-around good guy.  So I told my boss that I thought we should hire him, and he's been working for us part-time for about two weeks.  He's been great.  We've had several days where we've been riding in a truck together, moving stuff between our old offices and the new building, and here's what I've learned about him:

1.  his fiftieth birthday is coming up on August 21st
2.  he believes that God is in his life but he doesn't go to church every Sunday
3.  loves chocolate milk
4.  he knows somebody everywhere we go
5.  loves karaoke and line dancing

I just got back a little while ago from going downtown with Samuel -- to the theatre and then to the harbor, and we also headed out to EZ Storage to check in the lost and found for something that a patron left at one of the shows.  Sam's been good lately, a mix of very cute and somewhat annoying.  But he's developing (I think) some good manners and imagination and compassion.  I hope.  When we listen to music, he's always asking me the names of the songs and who sings them.

Lunchtime!

Checking In

Just wanted to let everybody know that, after 20 years or so of boxer-briefs, I've decided to try and go back to boxers in an attempt to squelch The Great Adult Diaper Rash Rampage of 2014 (#GADRR14).  

Benedict Cumberland

The family and I are on a mini-vacation in scenic Cumberland, MD.  I say 'mini-vacation', but I am learning that calling something a vacation while you are accompanied by a two-year-old is a bit of a joke, as there is nothing whatsoever relaxing about spending any time with a two-year-old.  But, at least it is busy and stressful and tiring somewhere where other people cook your meals, make your bed, and do your dishes.

The Jeanners was in Atlanta for 3 days chilling in a company-paid-for awesome hotel while I slaved away at home as a working single dad.  Perhaps I'm underplaying the amount of work she had to do while she was gone and overplaying the amount of suckiness I endured while she was away, but still, you get the idea.  Poor Dan.

What else?  Can't believe it's almost fucking July.  I need to have a scene design for Midsummer done soon.  Other than that, I'm pleasantly surprised that I've made it this far into the summer without wanting to kill myself or my co-workers.  Some moments of minor annoyance, yes, but nothing terrible.

Let me take this opportunity to say that there's really nothing I miss about working at the Nobes.

Tomorrow:  some hiking, some trainspotting, maybe some more swimming.  Gonna try to find someplace with vegetables for lunch.