Candyland

I got to rehearsal tonight and the girls from the costuming department were chatting. We've formed a bit of a backstage bond these last few days, built mostly around the fact that we aren't in the show, can't see the show, and as soon as the lights go up we aren't allowed to talk. Yay! At any rate, they had to run to the costume shop where we keep the show's wardrobe during the day, so I decided to tag along. They opened the door and I just about hyperventalated! Fabric! Trim! Mock ups, corsets, dress forms, aprons, bonnets, glasses, tights!!! Anything and everything you could possibly want to put in a well outfitted closet. Go figure. There was another door that led into the room where they keep the accessories. I tried on a few hats and constrained myself from rifling through the buttons. Oh my goodness! I absolutely MUST take a costuming class before I leave! I'm pretty sure if I had been all alone and could have gotten away with it without rammification I would have opened all the boxes, dumped the contents on the floor in a big pile and just rolled in it for about a week.

Too much?

..........yeah. Deal with it.

Looks like a dinosaur if you ask me....

Here's a picture I drew in voice and speech class today before the teacher came in. I swear it looked more like a hippo than it does here, although I really should have drawn little ears on his head. Oh well. Anyhow, I remember when I took this picture I totally thought to myself, 'This is so not my blog picture today. I have a lot going on and I'm sure to take more...' Yeah. Guess what? I had TOO much going on. I ended up being so busy that I forgot my camera existed, which is not something I tend to do. Ever. Either way school passed pretty quickly and I came home after classes, had an early dinner with the family and went right back to the school for the rehearsal. I left as soon as makeup was done to get to Anomaly Orange rehearsal, but I showed up halfway through it and didn't feel I did anything close to my best work. While fun, it was a bit of a letdown. I was so pumped for rehearsal this evening, too. Kinda made the whole day seem anticlimactic. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

One fifty

I had to be at the theater at six this evening, and I had German today which gets out at three thirty. If I drove home I'd have gotten there a little after four and I would have had to have turned around and gone right back at 5:30. Jason has Mondays off so the girls weren't an issue. I asked him if I should just stay on campus or if he thought I should just suck up the gas money and time and come home in the interim. He said, "Well........Yeah, just save your gas." Okay then. Three thirty to six. Free time. Something I don't do well.

One hundred and fifty minutes.

3:30-3:32pm Walk downstairs and choose a chair grouping.

3:33-4:04pm Catch up on Facebook and e-mail

4:05-4:12pm Hey, I have a full punch card! *attain large nonfat mocha*

4:13-4:14pm Decide to walk to on-campus art museum

4:15pm I now know on-campus art museum is closed on Mondays. Great.

4:16-4:42pm Alternately study and take amusing pictures of myself studying. People watch.

4:43-4:56pm Go for a long, aimless walk on campus

4:57pm Hey........I wonder what's in the gym?

4:58pm I don't belong in the gym. Stick to theater.

4:59-5:14pm More aimless walking brings me to the art department. Cool! Art! Shiny! More pictures are taken. Maybe I should take an art class?

5:15-5:17pm Walk to Student Center

5:18-5:27pm Walk around bookstore, examine EVERYTHING.

5:28pm Prove to guy at register that I didn't steal anything.

5:29-5:46pm Decide to cut my losses and chill at Bench City, my affectionate name for my usual study spot.

5:47-5:51pm Walk out to car, way out in the parking lot

5:52-5:56pm Drive car from way way back lot to front part of campus near theater.

5:57-6:00pm Aw why not. I'm here early! Let's make noses less shiny!

But nothing happens every time I try

I remember vividly the day I first learned how to ride a bike. It was a slightly chilly late October day in California, and I was in sixth grade. (Yes, sixth, shut up, this is my story!) You may be asking yourself, "Why didn't she learn how to ride a bike previous to the NOT SO SHOCKINGLY LATE IN LIFE sixth grade?" It's very simple. I had roller skates. In the eighties, that was all I felt like I needed. Seriously, I never had a real desire to learn how to ride a bike, it seemed needlessly complicated when I could just strap the wheels on my feet and go. Back to the October day. It was a Sunday and I was bored out of my mind. Sundays my mom would take naps and my dad would watch football, and we were basically not allowed to talk. I didn't have any friends within walking distance at that house, so I thought to myself, 'You know what? I think I'm going to learn how to ride a bike.' I went into the backyard and got the bike out of the garage. My parents had given it to me MANY Christmases ago in the hopes that I would learn to use it. The day had finally come. I walked the bike to the street (Our driveway went to an alley. Too scary.) kicked my leg over the side and stood upright for a second before breathing a 'here goes nothing' sigh and nudging the kickstand into the point of no return position. I wobbled for a bit, the bike teetering precariously this way and that until I found my balance and started to pedal. I started slow then gradually increased the speed. Like I said, it was a late October day. Our house was near the high school, and I like to think it was a surly teenager that left pumpkin bits on our street. I gleefully made figure eights around the orange slime for an hour before walking the bike back to the garage, chest held high. (note, it was only a few months after that that I felt confident enough to do something stupid on the bike and broke my arm. It's how I roll. And crash.)

So yeah, today was kinda like that. Warmer, yes, and there were no pumpkin bits to speak of, but Brianna is going through the 'I don't want/need to learn how to ride my bike' phase. Leigha and I were going around her while Jason walked her down the block. No, she didn't learn today, and she's five so it's age appropriate that she can't yet (again, shut up.) but I couldn't help but think back to that day. Later tonight I was at my school helping with the musical (crew week starts NOW!) and when we got out I skipped to my car, rolled down the windows and blasted 'Defying Gravity' from Wicked. I left the windows down while doing seventy miles an hour down the highway and singing along at the top of my lungs. It's kinda like that.

Improvtasticness

Tonight there were a couple shows at the Imp and Tom decided to use it as his 'official' birthday party, so Jason and I took the girls to the 7 o clock show at the Imp, where the Saturday class shows were happening. Tom and Jen are both part of the Saturday classes so they were both there, and Tom's whole family showed up to help celebrate his birthday. I already knew his sister Julia, but tonight I also got to meet Gloria and we became instant best buddies. Like, srsly. It was a really good night and I had a ton of fun!

I'm on a FLOAT!

First off, I'd like to give a shoutout to two of my very favorite people in the world, Tom and Zak. Why? It's their birthday! For the record, guys, I think it's super cute that you arranged it that way. Happy birthday you two! Anyhow, today was the homecoming parade for our school district, and both my girls are brand new girl scouts (I'll put up pictures when we get their uniformey thingies) so they got to go with their troupes in the parade. Here they both are on the float that Leigha's troupe made. Bri's didn't have time to make a float so her group walked in the parade. A brownie commented on the matter, saying, "Oh! How sad, the little ones have to walk!" A couple of the kidlings were saying their feet hurt before we even left the starting position! Fortunately, the parade route was incredibly short.

Yup, it's that kind of day.

Tonight we had a dinner to talk about the festival. What went well, what didn't work, what we can improve on for next year, etc. We had one of these last year, but it ended up being in December and nobody talked about festival at all. Awesome. This year the whole council (plus Tom and Jamie) showed up to discuss what we'd heard from others (none of the troupe reps could make it) and what we personally thought. It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't all sunshine and roses, either. No matter how you slice it, though, I think next year will be an improvement on this year because we'll all know what we're doing. Experience, yay!

Through wheat fields and waterfalls

There's this really big hill on campus that a lot of students like to sit on and study or whatever. I went up there today for the first time, and once there I saw this guy on top of the COM building. Wha.....? For heaven's sake, what is the Brawny paper towel guy doing going to school with me? Weird! Anyhow, I had a really great day. After yesterday's upset I was able to turn things over and examine them in my mind and really talk them out with a couple friends, and now I feel really good about things. Every now and again it's nice to get a little off balance so when things snap back into place you realize how good you really have it. Not to mention, when your friends are good friends they will totally be there for you and you'll realize how great they are, too. Tonight was crew watch night for the musical the college is putting on. I'm on the makeup team so I was required to sit in on the rehearsal with everyone else. Gosh darnit, I had to go to a rehearsal and watch a production, aw gee! (heh heh) It was a little rough, but then they haven't even moved into dress rehearsals yet, so it's right where it should be. Either way it was pretty good. The show is called 'Closer than Ever' and it's basically a musical review. (Psst-all singing, no plot) Next week it opens and I have lots of rehearsals I have to be at. I'm so bringing my homework.

P.S.-While I was at rehearsal there was a girl there wearing a hoodie that said 'Twilight' across the front and then in curlicue letters on the back something about 'blah blah stay with me forever blah blah.' We had been talking and I told her, "Okay. I just read your mind." She gave me a really skeptical look and said, "You read my mind....?" I said, "Yup. You're thinking, 'I can't wait for New Moon to come out, New Moon, New Moon, ohmyGOSH!" Her eyes got HUGE! She said, "You.......read my mind?!?!" I said, "Nope. I just read your hoodie." She laughed so hard that she had to pull her head into said hoodie to stifle the guffaws. Jessica strikes again.

Melon collie

Had classes and rehearsal today. We had another upset at rehearsal tonight and it left us all feeling bummed out. As Jen, Tom and I (or as I'm beginning to think of us-the 'Gruesome Threesome') were leaving tonight I was like, "Oh no! My blog! I haven't taken a picture yet!" So we got close and Tom said, "Look sad everyone!" And we did. Here we are trying our best to look dejected and puppy dog eyed. Pity Party of three? Your table is ready!

A completely different kind of 'under cover.'

I had class today and spent the evening with the fam. It's been raining all day long and gloomy (love it!) which really makes you just want to curl up with coffee and a book. I did the next best thing...got into my jammies early and studied in bed for my Western Civ class tomorrow. Hooray. At least I'm doing the responsible thing, right?

What's my name again?

*Pssst.......* The blue fox flies at midnight past the green herring. That's right. Now, assuming you DON'T speak spy, I'll translate. Tonight the youth group at our church did a mall search type thingy. They came armed with brochures with pictures of church members on them and had to find them within a certain time period and have the person sign their brochure under their picture. Awesome. I new my hair and bright clothes were a dead giveaway so I took care of that by putting on a blazer and fedora. Undercover agent outfit: Check! Jason and I sequestered ourselves in the bookstore to avoid detection. We did have a group come in but the kid who saw me didn't have the brochure and I managed to slip out of the store, make a loop around the side and through Chipotle without them finding me again. I was found a few times, but I was able to walk right past one group a couple times without being caught before I went back to the bookstore. Nice. After the great mall search we all went to Culvers for dinner. Because every good spy deserves ice cream.

Don't worry about our sanity, it's only temporary.

I'm not fond of how I look in this picture, but that's okay, everyone else looks great and you already know what I look like, so use your imagination and paste a better picture of me in there, please. Thanks a ton! (Oh, except to those of you who posted one of my many 'weird faced Jess' pics. You know who you are.) Oh, and FYI, it's only the perspective that makes it look like I'm touching Wade's stomach, 'cause I'm totally not. Tonight was Thunderdome, season 4 round 3. Janina was here when round 2 was happening, and this is the same season (just to give you a point of reference.) Anyhow, yeah, so we played hard and fast and in a blur it was over and guess what? WE WON. Yup, totally won. We get to advance to the finals now, yay! I'm so excited! I squealed loud when Keith announced the results, it was so completely elating! I love that something I love to do so much loves me back.

A small step

I got the kids out the door and on the bus this morning, then set out on an estate sale-ing adventure that, unfortunately, turned out to be a total bust. Oh well, at least I was in the area I needed to be in. Jen told me earlier this week that our mutual acquaintance Marilyn Wood was on the entertainment roster for her grandmother's altheimers care facility. Marilyn is a lady that plays piano amazingly well and for the past two festivals she's been at Californo's the night we had our after party there and we've had a blast singing with her. The care facility is also right by my school, so we both went and sang along with Marilyn and even, when called upon, danced with hats and feather boas on. It was a blast and the residents seemed to enjoy us a lot. (The picture is from the lobby of the facility. How cool is that?) After class I came home and when Jason got off work we went out to dinner with Tom, who went to the airport today to check out the planes and whatnot with Jason. Every boy's dream, right? We went to Famous Dave's. It's been a long time since we've been there and it really hit the spot. After dinner Jason pulled out the laptop to do some diagnostic stuff on Tom's car while I put the girls to bed, then we all played Guitar Hero. Wicked. It's a lot of fun to play when you have two guitars and a microphone. We seriously need to get the drum set now, we'd be unstoppable!

Guitar hero.

Just a typical day in Jessicadom. Yes, I have typical days too. Once in a while. You know. Just the same 'ol same 'ol. After classes today I went to an estate sale and got a bag 'o goodies for $4, including nine patterns and about 7 yards of fabric. Jackpot. (I also got a vintage coffee tin from New Orleans and an embroidery book. All for $4! I love sales!) I came home just before the girls got back, made dinner, then Jason came home. We spent the evening outside because today was perfect. Seriously. The weather was so perfect I didn't even wish it was raining and I adore rainy days. We came inside, put the girls to bed, and Jason got out his guitar to practice some accoustic stuff. He plays bass so often anymore that he rarely practices his guitar stuff, so it was nice to see him drag it out. In this picture he's listening to the song he's playing, something he did back in high school too. If he was wearing his old leg I'd swear it was 1998.

Das Kochen macht mir Spaß!

First of all, yes, I am wearing a shirt in this picture. It's a purple tank. Look closely under the scarf. Hokay then! After school today I came home, grabbed the children and threw them in the car, then went to the church. Alanna and I signed up for the Wednesday night meal making for last week, but unfortunately for me I had blindly agreed to the date before realizing that, duh, it was the first day of the improv festival. Nurr! So we switched with someone else and made the meal tonight. I had hoped I'd be able to snap a quick picture during the actual kitchen frenzy, but that's the funny thing about making a casual dinner for 100: you tend to forget things like pictures very, very easily. So after music practice I caught Alanna in the parking lot for a quick high five (we made shepherd's pie and it went over very, VERY well) and a cute picture of her, but creepy for me. It's how I roll.

There's a last time for everything....

This is likely the last picture of the original cast of Anomaly Orange. Zak came back to us today, but Brandon left. The good news is that we had an overlap and we were able to snap this snazzy picture of all of us! Oh, and the purple on my nose is Sharpie. I just felt like drawing a heart on the tip of my nose. My reasoning is that it's better than NOT drawing a heart on the tip of your nose. See? You can't disagree with logic!

Schnurk!

Had class, spent time at home with my family, did massive amounts of homework. I think I aced my German test.

Here's a kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How dee pard nurrrrr!

Jason and I got up this morning and drove down to join the horse show, already in progress. Quite a drastic change from yesterday's big city bright light entertainment. Leigha did all her showing yesterday (three third places and a second place) but today was Bri's turn. She got third place out of three, which is not at all unexpected. Those other kids live at farms with horses and have literally been in the saddle since they could sit up. Bri was incredibly happy with her ribbons, though. She danced around with them twirling in the wind saying, "Dancing ribbons, dancing ribbons!" Too cute. We left in the afternoon, all of us exhausted from our collective busy weekends. I loved having that time of artistic release and I'm glad we are all getting to do things we love, but it's so so great to come back together like this at the end of it all, even just to be in the same car together for three hours on the way back home. My family rocks.

H.G.G.H.

I can't believe festival is over now! Today was the last day. All that planning and the weekend went by *POOF!* like that. So worth it. Today was the workshop day. I had Susan Messing (squee!) in the morning and Mark Sutton in the afternoon. It was like a perfect recap of what I learned last year at the Annoyance, but with different information and a better knowledge of how to apply it to my own improv. Jen, Tom and I went for coffee between workshops and the shows, then we rocked the house one last time in our respective backstage positions. (EVERYONE came up and complemented us on an amazing job. Sweet.) This is a picture of two of the members of Der Monkenpickle. The guy on the left is a returning star from last years blog, Mr. Jason Sudeikis (of Saturday Night Live.) No, you're not mistaken, he does have a mustache at the moment. I don't know why, and I wonder if he'll still have it when SNL comes back for the season opener. My Jason (the one who is way more famous in my life. 'Cause he's awesome.) got to come out with me after the show (show itself was completely sold out) and hit the after party. It was wonderful having him there tonight. I wish he could have been there every night, but the girls went with his mom to a horse show today (we get to see tomorrow's events) so we just made the most of tonight. I'm sad the festival is over. I'm happy the festival is over. Mostly sad. It was great.

Tonight, tonight!

Susan Messing! SUSAN MESSING! Yay! I love her! This is her, me, and my pit sweat caused from running around making sure the show was running smoothly......which took a LOT of running tonight. We had a snaffu and several people didn't show up to the theater on time (some not until after the show had started!) so I was absolutely freaking out. It's a lot different to be the one who has to make sure everyone's where they are supposed to be and when! I really, really enjoy the role, though. Susan played tonight with Mark Sutton (both of the Annoyance Theater, where I took a weeklong class last Summer) and they were absolutely amazing. Jen has to be tethered backstage to the headset the entire show so she actually lay down on the floor of the theater to peek out through the curtain just to be able to watch their feet! The afterparty tonight was at Californo's which is always the best because they give LOTS of free food. Amazing night. I'm going to replay it many times on my mind's TiVo.

Part cyborg, all awesome.

Jen is completely awesome. I mean look at her. Dare you debate the validity of my claim? I think not. Behold! For here she stands in all her Stage Manager glory! Night 2 of KCiF went over with hitches so minor as to be completely overlooked, therefore being referred to as 'without a hitch.' I love being the assistant stage manager, too. It's quite fun! I have also decided that chuck taylor's are hands down the absolute most amazing backstage shoes ever of anything ever anywhere ever. Ever! I can sprint down the hallway with an important message and not emit a peep! They are also quite comfy and stylish. Is there anything a good pair of chucks CAN'T do? I don't think there is. All hail chuck! King of shoes!

(FYI-I had classes all day and was on my feet for five hours. I'm a tad EXHAUSTED.)

Comedy is repetition, comedy is repetition

First day of the Kansas City Improv Festival! Yay! It's 09/09/09 and this is the 9th year we've done this. Yup. As our host, Dennis DuPont said, 'Yeah, we really have been planning this out for nine years.' I'm the assistant stage manager this year (who's manager? Jen!!!) which is actually a lot more fun that I thought it would be. I get to powerwalk purposefully through the Off Center Theatre with a walkie talkie strapped to my hip and say things like, "Okay (troupe x) you're needed in the green room!" Sweet. I also get to run around delivering important messages to people. Tom (he's in the sound booth) said, "Oh, okay, so you're Hermes!" Why yes, yes I am. This picture was taken from backstage, between the curtain and the wall. I'm just that cool.

Go, go! Fight, fight! Gee I hope I look all right!

I swear this is NOT a magic picture. You will not see a 3D image no matter how hard you cross your eyes and jettison your thoughts into space. (am I the only one those never, ever did anything for?) Nope, this is a picture of theater kids trying to play basketball in a performance space. The basketball is, unfortunately, just out of view, but I promise it's there. Someone found it right before class and immediately captains were chosen and teams picked. I opted to be a cheerleader and roused the teams with such gems as, 'Play adequately and to the best of your ability, go team!' 'Just try not to hurt yourself, go team!' and, 'Score a touchdown! Go team!' Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself. The best part about all this is that when the instructor came in and saw the chaos happening, he sat back and watched approvingly. I love theater people. AO didn't have rehearsal tonight because the Kansas City Improv Festival starts tomorrow (wow! Yay!) and Jen, Tom and I are working all four nights, so we took the night off. Jason and I decided it would be a great opportunity to stay in with a movie, so we went to Redbox and got Inkheart. Obviously I like the book (and sequels) more, but they did a good job with this one. Hooray!

P.S.-Oh yeah, and Leigha lost another tooth tonight. She's shedding like a cocker spaniel!

Labored days

I did nothing today except homework. Literally. ALL day LONG. Absolutely nothing but homework. Yup.

What?

Please to meet!

Our former music/youth dude came into town this weekend for Rock the Light, so this morning after church a group of us went out to eat with him and his wife. They are seriously stellar people and it was great to see them. Meanwhile, I was seated across from Brittany. Brittany likes to draw a huge 'B' on her food then the rest of her name in teeny letters. Jessica likes to take huge 'B's and turn them into BRITTANYFLIES!!!! This one is especially beautiful. You can tell because if you look closely you see that the top wing is a peacock tail and the bottom wing is the Mona Lisa. (Go ahead. Click on the picture to enlarge it.) The Brittanyfly is accompanied by her friend Vinnie, the vampire cactus. (Having roots: Not, as it happens, a particularly effective way of catching your prey. Huh.)

I held a cat and I liked it

Today was the last meeting for the KC Improv Festival so we met a little later than usual and had lunch instead of earlier and at the coffee place. The girls split a giant meatball sub and LOVED it. The meeting itself went really well since by now all the planning is done (no time left for anything else, after all) so it was mostly just, 'Did you do this?' 'Yes, I did this.' Best kind of meeting. This evening we went to RI and saw a new format there called 'It's Debatable.' Tom is in it and he asked if we'd come out and see it so Jason and I got some popcorn and headed out. The topic up for debate was 'Should congress pass a law forcing Americans to believe in Faeries.' It was done in high school debate rules. (*shrug*) The affirmative team won and Tom actually won best debater, which was way cool. Brianna got totally into the subject matter and was nodding solemnly when a speaker argued that faeries die when people say they don't believe in them. For the most part it was a pretty good show. We came home and put the girls to bed and watched TV while I worked on my embroidery. Kitchen towels! What do you think? Pretty cute, huh?

What are you doing? I've gotta go!

Today a gaggle of improvisers, including myself, met up in the Crossroads district to hand out flyers for the Festival (hey, it starts next week!) I love that part of town, there's so much interesting stuff. This shot was taken in an organic farmer's market called 'Bad Seed.' I so have to go back there, it was way cool. Those colorful orbs on the table are all tomatos. Heirloom blends and unusuals, along with the typical reds, and a color chart telling you which are which. Love it! After handing out flyers Trish invited us to her place to watch a movie that is famous for being awful. Awful to the point of being one of the most unintentionally hillarious comedies ever made! It's called The Room. Oh it's bad, it's so bad. I can't stop giggling at how AWKWARD everything was! There were scene where characters would enter a room, have a two minute conversation, and suddenly one (or both ) would say, 'Well, I gotta go. I'm very busy.' The plot was incredibly stagnant. The mom of one of the main characters actually says, 'Yup, I got the test results. It's defenetly breast cancer.' The daughter doesn't react except to say, 'Oh. You'll be fine.' And that's the last time we hear anything on the matter for the whole movie. Yeah.

Cape Thursday

I went to my theater class today to find that several people were wearing capes. Why? Well......that's a very good question. I wore a scarf and the girl in the back of the picture arranged it so it looked more cape-ey for me. Awesome. Either way, here's a cute becaped trio, and FYI, the girl in the pink skirt is the 'alpha female' I referred to, but who can henceforth be known as 'Sarah.' I'm still not 100% clear on the other's names, but I posted the picture on Facebook and I'm going to go ahead and guess Sarah will tag them. (yay Facebook!) Jason and I had a great evening. He mowed the lawn, the kids rode their bikes, I made a semi-elaborate dinner, the kids went to bed and Jason and I sat in front of the TV while I worked on embroidering some kitchen towels. Very domestic 1950's.......except when you factor in the part where I set up my new cell phone and had a Facebook contest to see who could text me first. Yup. Let it be known that Shannon won. Oh yeah, and before you envy her, that's pretty much the extent of her prize. A mention and the title of 'first text on the new phone.' I'm lame like that.

A heartwarming tale of high adventure

Right......so today I wanted to get to school early and do some work and have a coffee and yadda badabba. I've got all my stuff and I'm walking out the door, do the mental checklist, and shut the door....one nanosecond before my brain reaches the most crucial part of the list, 'Oh yeah, and by the way, your keys are on the counter next to the sink. Enjoy! That's for making me work so hard lately!' Oh shoot..........The good news is I had all my stuff, including my phone. Immediately I call Jason and say, 'Nguh! Meheeba, nishck plehhh!' Translated from hysterical female into English that roughly translates as, 'Darling, I seem to have locked my keys in the house. Could you be a dear and help me out in some fashion? Thanks, you're a peach.' He works about half an hours drive from the house and since there was no obvious point of entry (key under mat, overlooked unlocked back door, etc.) he started out for home. Meanwhile I'm in the backyard trying to see if I can get in Brianna's room through the window. It's roughly 7-8 feet off the ground and just slightly to the left of the deck (which would have been a great way to get in if it was lined up.......) so I did the first logical thing, which was destroy the screen and throw it on the ground. Next I got a building permit and a contractor to help me create a structurally safe tower consisting of a lawn chair and the air conditioning unit. Fortunately my self preservation instincts kicked in before I tried to kick my left leg up over my ear to reach it in the window. I also tried leaping headfirst from the deck into the tantalizingly open window, but alas, my brain has this weird thing that tells me when I'm doing or about to do something stupid, and this time it clicked on and I decided there was no possible way to get onto the windowsill without dying horribly. One painful bruise in a straight line across my midsection later (what? I only hung from the windowsill by the ribs for a very short time), my knight in shining pegleg arrived bearing the key of entry.

Do I feel like a moron? Why yes, why do you ask?

Chinook

On Tuesdays Jason makes dinner for us since Ihave classes allllllllllllll day long and it's his day off. It's one of the many helpful things he does that makes him pretty much the best ever of anything. Anyhow, tonight he grilled up some venison and after we took our first bites he said, 'Man....this is a little overdone.' I said, 'I like it, it's really good.' He said, 'Well.......yeah, but I overdid it a little.' 'Okay, maybe a little....it's kind of like British humor.' 'What? Oh come on, it's not THAT dry!' Ha ha, awesome. We had a rehearsal tonight where we watched our video and whined about what we personally did wrong. I realized as I was leaving for home that I hadn't gotten a picture yet, so I grabbed the last lingering people in the troupe (which tonight was Jen, Tom and I) and we snapped this cute trio shot. I had one where I accidentally cut off most of Tom's head 'cause Jen and I are both short and he's on the gosh darn tall side. It was really funny, I said I was going to use it........but then I realized how adorable Jen and I were in this pic and went with it instead. You just can't argue with epic cute.