I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Now that the holidays and baby showers have passed, here's a quick post under the category of "stuff I made"
  





It was a quiet year for the knitting gifts this year.

That's SIR Terry Pratchett to you.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7805143.stm

Now that Baby Pew and her parents have been gifted this, I can post it and brag a little:
I think he needs a wardrobe of varied shell colors.

The show went very well.
The post-show party was lovely.
The post-post-show party was also lovely.
(I am skipping the post-post-post show party because I'm not interested in scotch and cigars and I'm too sleepy anyway)
I came home to something very very encouraging, but I have to keep it to myself for the time being. This is difficult.
It is even cooler than my shirt from Threadless that isn't here yet, but would have been if it hadn't been mangled in the post.

I shouldn't be allowed to type things at you people when the buzzy energy is fading.
I should be in bed, pretending to watch Venture Bros. while I fall asleep.

We open Amazons and Their Men this very evening. From now until then, we'll be tackling all that little stuff- last minute touch ups, cleaning the house, wrapping up actor gifts. All that jazz. But we're in a great place and ready for this.

Doesn't stop the jitters though. Apparently confidence doesn't truly relate to the activity of my fluttery stomach.

If you find your evening open and you're up for some brief and beautiful theatre (really, only about an hour long!), I'd love to see you at the Pillsbury House Theatre, 3501 Chicago!

And remember:  tonight's the only night we're guaranteed to have free wine and snacks after the show!

Just finished a work call at CTC (4 hours*).

I've had calls where I've worked my butt off and have been sore for days. I've had calls where I've done very little.

Never before have I sat there for 4 hours doing absolutely nothing. The truck we were supposed to unload never arrived, and we wandered off into the sunshine back to our day.

*At corporate rate. :)

I've had a lovely birthday. Sorry I didn't share it with you, but I was feeling largely selfish.

It hasn't been wowingly (is that word?) impressive, but it was really just what I wanted. Which was:  to be mildly antisocial and NOT work on Amazons and Their Men for the entire day.

Yes, I worked on Caligula, but I got a spiffy cool set design out of the deal.  A nice treat considering I wasn't expecting him to have such a well formed idea that meshed eerily with my own right images right out of the gate. Kinda creepy, but very pleasing.

I got a bike ride, got a little knitting done, saw Bad Jazz and ate only appetizers (Jasmine 26 AND Namaste-- yay for anise chai!) Finally we wandered around Cheapo because we haven't done it in ages, and bought a cd (Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, if you must ask, and I will take no guff about it).

And I got a package from John's mommy, and from what I can tell, she might think we drink too much coffee (the mommy is correct).

The gift I got from my family? Being left out of the current familial mess until tomorrow. Deal.

ETA: apparently the day after my birthday makes John ill.

----------------
Now playing: Lyle Lovett & His Large Band - Tickle Toe
  

Actually, I found $20.  As I was biking home from retrieving my CSA veggies, I stopped to pick up a dollar in the street. Then another two wrapped together. Then another. And another. Then a five. And two more fives!

I began to feel I was being lured down the street by some sinister criminal.

Best veggie pickup EVER. Not to mention that we got raspberries and a spiffy melon this week.
And made awesome ratatouille.

*Matt: I lied when I said it was $19. I found another dollar in my other pocket.

I received the above in a spindle spinning swap on the internet.
Top left: many layers of silk cocoons, spread into a kind of hankie shape and dyed pretty colors.
Bottom right: wool and sparkly stuff ready to become yarn, with the use of the spindle (sitting atop wool).

Some time later (ok, lots of time later. I had some zombie Shakespeare to facilitate in the meantime), this is what I ended up with:
 
...about 144 yards of very fine (and difficult to photograph) silk.
I find it to be quite pretty. No idea what I'm doing with it.

There is absolutely no reason for me to be wide awake at this hour.

Tomorrow marks the final performance of Shakespeare's Land of the Dead in the MN Fringe.

No.

Make that: the final TWO performances of Shakespeare's Land of the Dead. For we were the best selling show in our venue, thus earning us an additional opportunity to stage some zombie Bard. I don't have the numbers to back it up, but we may well be the best selling show of the Fringe.

And that feels GREAT.

So! If you missed Shakespeare's Land of the Dead, come tomorrow at 7:00, or better yet, at our 8:30 encore performance. If you came already, feel free to come again, be not afeared.

We're damn proud of this show and would love to see you at either one.
So damn proud.

It's odd sometimes to see yourself in the face of your family (or sometimes, in our family, in our fingers and toes).

So when I walk past this pair of photos in my house, it's makes me smirk. Myself, and Tricia. The helmet (sled hockey) obscures things a bit, but the tilt, the glasses and the family smile lines all parallel. She's a pretty cool kid.

And her twin has gotten into some cable TV show where they try out crazy foods, and he wants in. He heard that I ate puffin, and I gained a few rock-star aunt points. I'm taking him out for dim sum. It's a happy medium for calling his bluff.

And if that works, then it's crickets and guinea pig at Chino Latino.

...but it's still PUZZLE TIME!  (click me click me click me click me)

Outdoor. Puzzle solving. Race. Walking Shadow had considered one for this summer (you got Elizabethan Zombies instead, deal), but now it appears we don't have to.

Saturday, May 31. 5 o'clockish until late o'clockish.

I'm playing. John's playing. David's playing.
Who's gonna take us?  I want to get a bunch of us playing this thing. If it sucks, then you've wasted an evening competing against your friends for the glory of all that is awesome.

I already solved the intro puzzle...

Come on.

PLAY WITH ME.

 

We ventured into our CSA veggies with gusto this evening (slow start due to shows/John's mom in town). Tonights dinner was Smoked Salmon Benedict with Sorrel Sauce, Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Blue Cheese, and Angel Food Cake with Rhubarb/Strawberry sauce.  CSA used: sorrel, spinach, chives, rhubarb. Verdict: 5/5 (though we have yet to have dessert, I'm just making assumptions there). The photo doesn't do it justice.

Recipe yoinked from here.

Tomorrow, we anticipate bacon/ramp quiche.

We also watched the final episode of Slings and Arrows, season two. Anyone have season three? 

-Sitting outside in order to better steal the neighbors' internet. Thank you neighbors.

-The cat is on the other side of the door, clearly distressed that I'm on the wrong side of the glass.

-Watching the little neighbor girls bike around our lawn. They've grown, and one is missing a tooth, and it appears that neighbor-boy Andy does not want to share his popsicle.

-Waiting to hear if the photos I sent to the Star Trib are small enough this time. Sweet time is being taken, during which I feel like I can't abandon the phone/internet.

-Just got what I thought would be a bill, but instead proved to be a small overpayment refund. Yay! Thank you, mailman.

-Opening weekend went quite well, and I think we've solved all our glitches. Thank you wood, for being knockable.
 
-We started on Slings & Arrows season two last night, while we ate fresh guacamole.

-I need a job (working on that), but I'm enjoying life right now.
 

Tonight is the last rehearsal for The American Pilot before we open tomorrow night.  Last night one of our advisors arrived a bit early and watched as we ran Act II, and he told me 3 separate times how much he loved it (then told the stage manager twice). So we may be on to something.

I'm not good at the tooting my own horn thing, but I'd love to have my friends there as we unveil this thing. Plus, there's a party afterwards! Join us tomorrow to see what I've put all my energy, time, heart and pride into. Then drink some beer and eat free food.

*Plus, it'd make us look like rockstars to the press.

Needed, quickly:
3 black stocking caps.

Anyone who can get these to me quickly gets amazing baked treats of some kind to be determined later.
Because they seem to be out of season, and I don't have that much time to knit them.

Breakfast: Leftover banana bread, baked yesterday. Coffee.

Lunch: Mediterranean Lemon Soup (with egg!), Bacon, onion, & tomato quiche.

Dinner: Bah, haven't we eaten well enough already, do I have to actually think about that one too?

I adore Improbable Theater, and I still treasure that I got to work with them for a week when they last came through the Walker. When we were doing the workshop, they were still thinking quite a bit about their production of Satyagraha.

There's a short video of some of the production here, as it's just now coming through the Met. It breaks my heart that it's not one of the productions going to the movie theaters on HD. I can't make the embedded link look pretty, but do go look at it!

This is, perhaps, not the best job listing I've ever seen:

Job search for us army, hostage jobs at MySpace Jobs. Take a look at our extensive number of us army, hostage job listings!