Are you going to the meeting?

The elusive four man pileup...A rare beast, to be sure. It makes it's home in improv rehearsals. So don't remember exactly what's going on in this picture, but isn't it great? We were all laughing hysterically, that much I remember. After a busy busy weekend I am zonked. I took a nap this afternoon, so you wouldn't think I was still tired, but yeah, I would be happy with 20 hours of sleep on me right now. Mmm.....I'm going to get me some sleep. A fraction of 20 hours, to be sure, but hey...in a life where every day has the potential for pictures like the ones seen here, I don't have time to skip out on a whole day for sleep. I'll take my six hours, thanks.

Winners!

Provocative secret, yo. This was found in the theater today as we were cleaning up. The other tennants had left a mess and we had a show tonight. Yuck. I also had the misfortune of ripping my jeans open as I was running down a hill, tripped, and landed on my knee. On the bright side, the shows were amazing and then I saw a small parade of Mardi Gras revelers traipsing through the building from one of the other spaces on the ground floor. Sweet!

If I was stuck in your teeth, would you question my proffessionalism?

Ladies and gentlemen...the stuff nightmares are made of. The school has a 'bake sale' every friday, selling the goodies and nummys the pastry department makes throughout the week. I had a few things going on after class so I stuck around just long enough to grab a few treats. I did this a few times last semester as well, and one time they had a couple of truly frightening cakes with chocolate horse heads on them. I don't know why, exactly, but they do custom cakes and they were someone's order. Imagine my shock and horror (now akin to your own) when I saw the mold they used sitting under the table. Eep! I grabbed my treats and ran for the hills. Let's hope I don't wake up to find this in my bed covered in chocolate sauce......*shudder*

Wherin Jess forgets everything she brings with her to school.

First of all, doesn't that water spot on that curtain make it look like he has antlers? Yeah! Okay, so, owing to our recent successes with Project Improv and KC Crossroads Comedy, the KU troupe, Stitch Tactics, hired Tom and I to come teach a workshop with them tonight. I think they had a blast, and hopefully they took away things to play with for next time. I really love that after workshop new toy feeling. I really hope they got that, it's the best! This was a scene in which Picasso's artwork is terrible. He made a guy with no legs, who crawled around on the floor dragging his legs behind him. A few seconds later Da Vinci walked in with a pair of legs following behind him. It was great.

Welcher Tag ist Heute?

Again. Not a fashion blog. But isn't my new belt AWESOME??? I know, right? So today had an unfortunate beginning to it...Brianna took FOR EV ER to get ready this morning, and she missed the bus. (I waved Leigha out the door when it showed up. Good 'ol Type A Leigha...always ready on time) Not having any time myself, I quickly finished getting ready then figured I'd drop her off on my way to class. I left at 8:20, class starts at 9 for me and it's a 20 minute drive. I had JUST enough time when you factor in parking. Unfortunately, I autopiloted my way to the wrong school. They built a new elementary school this year, so Leigha went to the old one last year and it's where the girls have Girl Scouts on Tuesdays, so it makes sense when you're rushed and tired. I pulled up to the school, realized my mistake, and went, "GAHHHHH!" As I hit the steering wheel in realization. I flipped around and pointed my unhappy self in the correct direction. AWAY from where I needed to be to get to the highway and get to school. By the time I got her to the school she's actually enrolled in and back onto the highway, it was 8:45. Eep! So I was late to class due to my own stupidity, but luckilly I missed traffic and found a spot right away, so it was only 7 minutes. Bleh. I HATE being late. After class I stuck around campus to see some friends who go there, then (since Jason sleeps during the day and the girls are at school) I headed to Westport. While there Jason called and said he had been called in to do some overtime and he'd be home about four. Bummer, but I was already downtown, so I decided to make the most of my alone time and hit the Plaza (see belt, above) then went to the Crossroads District to see if I could make some connections in the neighborhood of the Fishtank. It was nice having a little QT with myself. I don't get to just hang out alone like that much. I got home about the same time as the girls, with Jason about ten minutes after that. Sweet. Reassembly: complete!

Wilson!!!!!!!!!!

Not having enough on my full plate (Cha......right.......) I decided to join the church volleyball team! Tonight was our first practice. I was right, sports and I don't get along, like, at all. Every few years, though, someone asks if I want to play volleyball and I shrug and say why not? I'm not at all coordinated enough to pull it off successfully, but it's fun to be part of a team, so I do it. Tonight was pretty great, I made contact with the ball and sometimes it even did what I wanted it to do! Hooray! I do recall one point at the evening as I was about to serve and everyone was trying to help me get it over the net I paused and said, "Can't I just sing something for you all instead?" I got a laugh, which was nice. Hey, what I lack in coordination and ability I make up for in determination and humor. I'll let you all know how this goes.

Pizza Angel

Brianna came to dinner in a tutu and wings tonight. Didn't know this was a fashion blog, didja? Well, apparently, tonight it is 'cause that's really all I feel like mentioning about today. Good day, just not a ton to say about it.

Hug me like a muppet!

Ah...........improv pictures. I can explain exactly what's going on here, but.....hmm.....I dunno that I will. I will say this, however-This is a shot from Project Improv tonight. These guys really killed it tonight! We instantly snapped into the group mind, every scene was intensely playful, and by the end of one memorable scene, they were able to tell me details that came out of the scene like, "He was wearing leather pants and they lived in dorm room number 147!" That may not sound like a lot to the non-improvisers out there, but keep in mind we work with no props, costumes, or scenery. Everything is made up on the spot. Being able to play a scene with invisible scenery that is so vivid that everyone remembers the number on the nonexistant door...that's pretty huge. Tom and I are really hitting our stride as directors, and it's becoming incredibly satisfying to be able to say, 'Yeah. We put that love of our art form into them.' Being able to show people what I love about this creative process is something I take great pride in.

Blowin' off steam

After the week I've had, I feel both tense and relieved. Relieved because I now have more free time, tense because I'm still carrying it around with me. Plus, I am still quite busy. Come on, I have two kids and I'm a full time student and I'm a producer/director/actor in the improv field. So today when I was at the theater, my heart was in it, but my head was about to explode with the everything. When I feel that way, the only thing to do is to go ahead and get a little goofy. Maybe take a picture of myself with a Coke bottle on my head. (Okay, maybe not THAT goofy, but you get my point.) It was a great day and I feel so much better about things. I needed to let go and just have fun. Today=success!

Drained batteries

That slightly deer-in-the-headlightish look on my face is one that comes out of a place of 'AHHHH! Last workshop, OVER! Theater Festival, FINISHED!' Great feeling. I can relax a lot more now. *whew.* Lucky me, even with all the stuff going on, I didn't miss a single class! The theater department sent out a memo to let everyone know we wouldn't be in classes, and most of the kids took the opportunity to sleep in or hang out. I actually had a friend from the department ask me why I was going to classes. *shrug* I'm on a roll. There's a reason for that. At any rate, to my supreme relief, the festival is over. Hooray! My schedule is a lot free-er now.

Here's a song about some bugs.

Good day. Busy, but good.

I am in NO mood.

First day of classes. It went well, but English is going to be TOUGH! Figures. It is an honors class, after all. After school was over I helped with the festival again. I had a dance workshop I monitored/participated in, then I monitored two other workshops and helped cart a bunch of heavy electrical equipment around. Tired. Stressed. How does Jess unwind on such a Wednesday? By beating the tar out of some innocent bystanding drums. Bam. Travis Barker ain't got nothin' on me........except percussion skills, of course.

And it talks, too!

How often do you get to wake up and say to yourself, "Golly, I'm a lucky lass! I get to spend the day with 1600 theater students and a talking moose head!" Me either. So here to commemorate the experience is the displayed (not currently working) talking moose head that a school used in their production of Evil Dead: The Musical. Yes, there's an Evil Dead: The Musical. That's right, the bad 80's cult film about the guy with a chainsaw for a hand. *shrug* I improvise, people, but I wouldn't make this stuff up. At any rate, today I spent a few hours at the school monitoring workshops for the festival. I came home just in time for dinner (I sure can plan these things out just right, can't I?) and spent the remainder of the evening with my family. When Jason went to work and the kids went to bed I had a sudden shocking moment of, "Oh yeah.......SCHOOL starts tomorrow!" I feel like I'm already in school with all the time I've spent there these past two weeks! So I ran around the house getting together notebooks, pens, and the textbooks I'm going to need for tomorrow, and placed them in a pile with the stuff I need for the festival. *whew!* Oh, and the yellow ball cap.......SO not my idea, and yes, I'm required to wear it. Enjoy!

More than apt

Today was the first day of the theater festival, and the night of the party that I had volunteered to host. I spent the afternoon setting up the room, plugging stuff in, figuring out what light switch controls what, taping down cords, etc. etc. etc. After all the festival stuff got out at the school everyone came over to the hotel where the parties are to be held. It was pretty intense hosting a party of this magnitude. There are 1600 students at this festival and at least a couple hundred of them showed up for the party. As host you have to get out and mingle while keeping tabs on the people who are necessary for certain parts of the evening. Added bonus: We had a costume contest! Which meant also keeping tabs on what time it was and deciding when to do the different rounds. The party's theme was 'leftovers.' These two ladies are the ones who won the costume contest. What are they? Lady Gaga's leftovers. Very nice.

Sledmobile!!!!!!!

Crazy busy day. The theater festival started today so I went to the school for a meeting, did some volunteering work (required as a theater student) then had back to back improv rehearsals. The good news is that improv tonight was CRAZY insane fun. I had a 'Slingblade' voiced character that kept making beef pancakes. (Also known as 'tacos' to some.) Zak rode a fictional device called a 'sledmobile' off the tented roof of Denver International Airport. Seriously, crazy insane fun. Speaking of crazy insane, here is Tom making crazy eyes at Zak. Nice.

Incidentally, if you leave comments now it's going to take me longer to reply, if I ever get around to it. Blogger has just stopped letting me know when I get comments via e-mail. *shrug* I'll see what I can do, but in the meantime, just know that I'm not ignoring you, dear reader.

Speak the hug!!!

Saturday night found me working the box office for KC Crossroads Comedy. I've hosted the past couple shows and it's time to take a break from that and let someone else take on the role for a bit. I love hosting, but it's not something one person should do for every show. The shows are not about the host, they are about the troupes, and one person hosting every single night when it's a weekly thing.....well, that has great potential to go to one's head. So we're mixing it up a little. We had a fantastic show, the theater was filled to capacity once again, and best of all, 90% of Project Improv was there! We are starting up for the Spring semester tomorrow, and everyone's excited. What better way to celebrate that excitement than to come see a show together? It was great to see them, too! We had quite a few improvisers in the audience, actually.

Context swiiiiiiiiiiitch!

I had a cute picture of myself from today......but there's no topping this face. None. The funny thing is, that's pretty much Brianna's default expression. She saw me pull the camera out and CHOSE to do that. Silly duckling! Leigha is spending the night at a friend's house tonight and I was doing some flyering and promotion for KC Crossroads Comedy, so I had Jason meet me downtown and the three of us had dinner together. There's a great place in Westport called D'Bronx that does fantastic sandwiches and pizza, so we decided to meet there. Brianna got to see them hand-tossing the pizza dough and she was really impressed. Jason left for work straight from dinner, so Bri and I drove home, blaring Fireflies and singing along at the top of our lungs. I love being able to spend one on one time with her. I love spending one on one time with Leigha as well, of course, but typing 'one on one time with my girls' seemed a tad awkward.

Decade-ance

Me: So, Leigha, what do you want for your birthday treat?

Leigha: Like...at home or for school?

Me: Well, both.

Leigha: Cupcakes for school and um..............frosted sugar cookies for here.

Me: (Pause) Like........homemade sugar cookies?

Leigha: No, the ones you get from Walmart.

Me: Okay.....you got it.

*Shrug* I still don't get it. She loves those cookies. Happy birthday, Leigha! I can't believe she's ten years old. It just doesn't seem possible. It's not like the time flew by and wasn't it just yesterday she was a baby and blah blah blah.....because we've all been through A LOT in the past ten years. Except Brianna who has only been here for half of that. And no, it's not an 'I can't believe I'm losing my BAYYYYYYYYYbeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!" thing, either, because I love seeing her become a rational human being and getting to do cool things without stopping every five seconds. It just doesn't seem like she should be ten, though. Hard to explain I guess.

Must you?

I went to the school to get my books for next semester today. *sigh* I'm glad to be starting school again, but I really enjoyed the break, you know? I still have a few more days left. To get the most out of today (and because I apparently didn't think I had enough books in the car already) I decided to head to the plaza afterward to spend my Barnes and Noble gift card from Christmas. I picked out a few things then headed to the cafe to read and enjoy a mocha while gazing out the window onto the beautiful Spanish-inspired pedestrian mall below. We are truly lucky to have such a treasure in our little city. Love it!

An excercise in futility.

Ah, poor, sad, useless paper chain. You were created but shall never fulfill your intended purpose. I went to the school today to work out some more details on the party I'm co-heading up for the big theater festival. They gave us no budget to work with (it's that kind of climate, yo, even at the college level) and told us to figure out decorations and stuff. Upon discovering this, the girl I am partnered with suggested we get a bunch of construction paper and make a truly epic paper chain and just go nuts. I shrugged and said, "Why not." Yeah, it's a little juvenile and maybe a little lame, but if applied properly we probably could have done magical non-lame things with it. Unfortunately for us, the instructors gave it the red light while we were constructing it. So here stands the piled up mountain of the lonely paper chain that will never attend a party. *salutes* Fare thee well, paper chain. May you find soon brighten something worthy of your specialness.

Doing a little turn on the catwalk

We have a HUGE theater festival coming up next week and my school is hosting it this year. So, like a good little theater student, I spent all morning and afternoon at the school. Here is what I did today:

-Rearranged the theater with flexible seating to cram more seats into it.

-Launched giant 2x4's and various pieces of sets and broken chairs off a loading dock and into a huge dumpster.

-Jumped on a flat dolly with two other girls and rode it into the backstage area of the medium-sized theater. (pictured)

-Helped move costumes and storage items into the backstage area of the large theater.

-Snuck off and explored the catwalks and secret passages of the large theater.

-Reorganized fabric in the costuming department while playing with the most delicious vintage clothing and shoes stored in the closet.

I just love being a theater student and getting to do cool things. Incidentally, that's the second day out of three in which I have completely rearranged a theater. My arms are sore.

Aryan children of the corn

We went to lunch today with Dustin and Alanna and crew. Bri and their third child (out of four), Clara, are quite the gruesome twosome. They hid under the table, giggling for a while. For no apparent reason. Cheeky monkeys. Oh, and in case you didn't miss the close proximity, yes, they are sharing a chair in this shot. I was dragging a lot today. After the thrill of yesterday's stunning success and grueling workout, I'm tired! But there ain't no rest for the Jesstah, or at least I choose to delay resting and do fun things, so I went to rehearsal tonight. Like a good little classically trained actress. It was a blast, too! We showed up and found that our regular rehearsal space was filled with chairs and tables, which is not wholly unusual. What WAS different, however, was Joe's suggestion to use the different chair and table groupings as a springboard for scenes. We moved from place to place, using the movement to edit scenes, until we found that we had run out of new groupings, so we started using more and more of the room (including one scene where the boys were feds and I was a circuit board thief [I know, right?] they were stalking and they finally cornered me but I cleverly avoided them and ran to safety. Mua ha ha!) and our scenes were incredibly real, unusual, and FUN! We finally reached a natural conclusion and called for a break, only to look at the clock and discover that we had gone the entire length of rehearsal time already. And no, we didn't warm up or anything. Wow! I needed that. It was such a great artistic purge! I came home and Jason and I watched a cute movie from New Zealand. Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame was in it, which is how I found out about it (Thanks, netflix!) and when he showed up on the screen Jason's eyes got big and he gave me a look like, "Wha..........I know that guy!" It was too funny.

Mosaic

We began planning for the next Kansas City Improv Festival today. Yay! Mostly just a 'what went right/wrong' recap, which is what your first meeting should be, but it's exciting to be thinking about this again. Jason brought the girls out after the meeting and we had coffee and talked and hung out, which was nice. I had to be at the Fishtank pretty early today, though, because one of the groups asked if we could reposition the stage to another part of the theater. Now, I know that sounds crazy, but it's really not. Part of the reason we booked this space is because the venue is completely adaptable. Nothing except the walls are nailed down and immovable. So we picked up the platforms that make up the stage, moved them to the other side, then got ladders and repositioned the lighting. It really didn't take as long as I thought it would, which was great! We got the same number of chairs into the space with the reconfigured setting, and even had enough room leftover to create a small lounge for the improvisers for between sets. Nice. I think we might just do it this way again. The show went really well, great crowd, too! After the show I helped clean up the theater then went to McCoy's to talk to the after Thunderdome crowd. It's weird not being involved in this round of Thunderdome, but it was nice to be done in time to talk to everyone. Lots of people asked about the shows at the Fishtank and expressed an interest in doing a show there at some point. Sweet! I can't wait to see what the future brings to this enterprise!

Prints....charming!

Today was one of those days where ten gazillion things happened so it went by quickly but it felt like three separate days, you know? I spent the day with the girls due to school being cancelled again. I'm pretty sure it was temperature based, since the snow is not a factor any more. They had a girl scout thing tonight that they've been looking forward to for a WHILE now, a stay at a hotel in town that has a water park inside of it. They were leaping out of their pants excited today! Since they were otherwise occupied and Jason had work I decided to take advantage of the fact that I won a free ticket to the Andy Warhol exhibit at Union Station. Andy has always fascinated me. His artistry and ability to view the world in such a unique way is just dazzling. I love that he shared it with the rest of us. After that I headed out to see FFC's 'Best of 2009' show. In reality, it's their second to last show. Tomorrow night they say goodbye forever after eleven years of performing. Tom came out to see it too and brought flyers for KC Crossroads, so we handed them out after the show. Hey, if FFC is disbanding there's no sense in wasting a perfectly good audience, now, is there?

On a happy note, I'd like to close out this entry by congratulating Scott and Jamie on their engagement! Congratulations, you two! Now stop reading this entry and go snuggle on the couch in front of a positively puke worthy romantic comedy or something. (Or go to the go kart track and hold hands as you run seven year olds off the road. Your choice.)

Rhinos are people too, and they deserve respect!

I spent a lot of time with these two today. Three long phone calls and a multitude of texts on the Blackberry keeping up with friends, and lots of promotion and PR for KC Crossroads Comedy on the computer. *whew!* The girls enjoyed their snow day thoroughly, having just acquired the DVD of Mary Poppins from their Aunt Lynette. Leigha declared that the purple carousel horse was her favorite in the part where they go into the chalk drawing and win the horse race. That one was always my favorite, too. Leigha asked me today if she and I could be a 'little improv troupe' someday. "You know.....just me and you!" That would be so cool. I think we can do that, yes.

Weather or not?

We got up early and said goodbyes, then flew out of Reno (snowy) into Los Angeles (definitely not snowy) and then home to Kansas City (snowy and snowing). We got back to the house a little before four and set to work clearing away the last of the Christmas mess and packed up the tree. Jason let the girls go outside and take advantage of the fresh powder and I changed all of our sheets. We all got new ones for Christmas, so why not? I had found a great sale for the ones I got us and they are super soft. I may not get up tomorrow. And why not? They already called a snow day for tomorrow...which was supposed to be their first day back at school after Christmas!

Mythbustin'

Okay, so when I say my parents live in Nevada, people usually picture Las Vegas. Warm, desertyness, and casinos. They live near Reno, which is way North and yes, it's desertful and has lots of casinos, but the warm part only applies in the Summer. Reno is surrounded by mountains and is near Lake Tahoe (skiing, yo.) so, yeah. This picture was taken on the way from Reno to Carson City and is in an area called the Washoe valley. So, yeah. Thanks, friends, for wishing me a break from the cold but it's only a relative break since the Reno area is more like in the 30's as opposed to Kansas City's current single digits. I'll take it, but it's not like I'm in Vegas. *wink* We had a great day. My parents bought a new piece of furniture so we all went to Reno to pick it up, so we had lunch at In-N-Out Burger (aw yeah!) then my mom and I took the girls to Barnes and Noble. I love hanging out in bookstores. I got myself Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for the plane ride home. I've been dying (ha ha!) to read this one, so it should be great. Maybe I'll pick up Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters after I finish. This evening we went to my grandparent's house and had dinner then played a friendly game of Apples to Apples Junior (so the girls could participate). My dad teamed up with Bri and they had the most cards at this one point, and Bri was flashing them around in a smug manner, so Lynette said, "You're a real punk." And Bri came back with, "No I'm not. I'm the WINNER." She takes after someone we all know...

More bars in more places

We pretty much spent the day hanging around the house. My parents had to work today so it was just Jason, the girls and I in the morning, but my dad took a half day and we all went to visit my mom at the school. She introduced us to teachers and let the girls check out books from the library and stuff. Lynette came over in the mid-afternoon and the girls had goofy fun with her (see photo). We called my grandparents on the webcam and talked with them for a bit, which was nice. Basically we did all those things your family does on actual holidays. It's just too hard to try to fly standby around the two days of the year everyone else flies, you know? And like I said, even yesterday was hard to get a flight. Yeah yeah yeah, all those other passengers buy me dinner and keep me in a house. *pssht* Whatevs.

Parental rights

So this morning we got up and went to the airport. Lots of fresh snow on the ground, and on the way into the airport grounds we passed a plane that had slid off the runway and gotten stuck. Yeep! Not a good omen at all. But we sucked it up and boarded a plane to Vegas with the intention of heading from there to Reno, which we eventually made it to...but since everyone starts school tomorrow after Christmas break (except our girls' district, which goes back Thursday) everyone was flying home. We got bumped off a couple flights and spent a good chunk of our day in McCarren. Ew. The good news, though, is they have a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf there, and we happened to sit near a guy who was playing a clarinet. Really well, too! Sweet. We made it into Reno about 6pm and my parents took us and Lynette out to dinner. I've missed my family. A lot. My dad was trying to say things in German and I got to talk circles around him, which was fun. He laughed then kicked me in the heinie.

Oh, and in case you read this and don't see me often, I'm officially announcing that I got my lip pierced back in November. My parents read this too. I didn't think it was fair for them to find out on the internet. (ooh she's sneaky!)

Chicken crossed the road

Today was a huge pendulum swing from frustration to elation for me. After an irritating struggle with printing some material and getting the theater ready, we had two phenomenal opening night shows for KC Crossroads Comedy! I hosted, which is just nerve wracking when you're not used to it just yet. I enjoy it, sure, but it's like, "Eep! These people don't want to see me, they want to see the next act!" Kind of an odd spot to be in, because you are there to keep the show running smoothly and make announcements and stuff, but you can definitely feel the 'on with the show' attitude from the crowd. In hindsight I wish we'd gotten a picture of all the acts together, but this Anomaly Orange cast photo is certainly worthy of doing the trick for encapsulating palindrome day for me. (01/02/2010)

Save Bandit!!!

I did a lot of cool stuff today but forgot to take any pictures, so here's a picture of me blogging! (Ahhh! *head asplode*) I could hurt your head even more if I took another picture of this right now, 'cause then it'd be one of those 'picture within picture within picture' things, like looking into a mirror or whatever, but I'm feeling sleepy and lazy. So, right....Jason and I ended up getting home this morning at 5:30am. *whew.* We slept in into the early afternoon then decided ordering a pizza would be stellar and we watched a bunch of episodes of The Office on Netflix. Perfect New Year's day.