Well.... It's been a while since I've written anything. Truth is, I've been swamped and I've felt uninspired. There isn't a reason, it's just the way it's been. So I'm going to try to get back into the routine (like I've sworn to myself I would about 8000 times now), but I'm not going to try to stick to a topic. Think of it more like a restaurant chat. It'll probably still be about crafts mainly, but I've censored a lot of what I've written to stick to a topic and it's just not working for me. Perhaps I've read too many horror stories of the people who talked about their jobs and then got fired. I'm not naming names and I'm probably not going to talk all that much smack, so hopefully it won't come back to bite me in the bum. And hey, I'm pretty sure no one's reading anyway.
So what's been happening? A 5.5 week run of a show (which seemed like it was going to be soul-crushing, but, in the end wasn't too bad). Right now we have Rent in the building w/ the original Mark and Roger. The cast is overall excellent so it's been a pleasure to listen to. I say listen b/c unless I take a night off, I'm not comfortable popping into the house to see any of the performance. In many ways I feel that this gig would have been more suited to someone who doesn't like theatre. But really you have to like it and have to be supportive of it to be willing to be here for 14 hour days. You have to like it to think 8 shows over 6 days is a normal life. You have to like it to be ok with getting home at 12:30 at night (and not b/c you've been out drinking) and turn around and be back by 9AM. You have to like it to put up with being cussed out by people who consider the show start time listed on their ticket to be a suggestion, not a hard and fast rule,and are then upset because they are missing part of the show. You have to like it to be treated as the bad guy by the audience, the traveling company, and sometimes your coworkers and staff and still come back. Or maybe I'm a closet masochist. Nah, pretty sure that's not it. And, to be honest, 97% of the audience doesn't cuss me out, people who I'm supposed to be on the same team as don't gripe beyond all reason, and life runs much as it should. But when you have a bad run, it just sticks out in your mind.
Thank God for the crafts, right? I've been working on another Frank Lloyd Wright piece (no pics yet), also on linen. There are solid sections of color so there's not the mind-numbing frustration of changing the needle after a minute of stitching. But w/ no events last week, there was time to really clean the house and realize that to hang up two other pictures next to each other, I needed a third one also in black and white. Enter the Taj Mahal! Click it if you want to see it in its full-sized glory. It's from the book Cross Stitch Silhouettes and still took me about a week to stitch despite its smaller size (approximately 6x8).
Making this piece served another great purpose: helping me start my New Year's resolution (starting a bit late, aren't I?). I love craft books. Anyone who knows me knows that! I have decided that over the next two years, I want to create at least one thing from every book that actually has project directions in it. Obviously books I've already used are immune, so time to start tapping those with the projects that I "absolutely have to make right this very minute or I'll die a scissorless death" and then promptly don't get around to when I see I lack all the materials (or the sheer gumption to get off my duff and make it). Since I seem to have a similar obsession with cookbooks and a need to expand my meal preparation repertoire, they'll probably make it into this resolution as well.
So yes, a more chatty, crafty, picture-taking, cooking me. Let's see how long all that lasts....
